Naruto: Kitsune Unleashed
by WolfenVaHeron
Summary: During the battle of the bridge in Wave, Naruto ended up calling upon the chakra of the Kyuubi in his anger. However due to a slight...miscalculation or two, things change for the boy...for better or worse. And also yes, some of the original plot differs...a lot. But that's for the lols. HANYOU Naruto, Fem Haku (and others...). Bashing on the dumb, dumb villagers. Book cover InPrg
1. Chapter 1: Miscalculation

**Behold! A story of mine that isn't Elsword based! Yeah I kinda came up with this idea when I was thinking of a story that could be based in Naruto-verse. Though unlike my other ones, this one (so far) has no OCs. Instead, its based off of one possible thought...just how rushed was Minato when he made the seal? Thus I came up with this. And yes, while I know essentially the first half of chapter one is straight off based from the original story, I do not own that, only the way I wrote it and how it impacts the rest of the story. So sit back and enjoy!**

**DIS-FREAKING-CLAIMER: I do NOT own Naruto, its characters, the locations, or any part of the franchise, be it anime, manga, or so on. Those belong to ****Masashi Kishimoto and the property of Shueisha, Viz Media, TV Tokyo Co., and Shonen Jump, as well as many, many other content creators who shouldn't sue me just because I wrote a fanfiction based from their work. If I did own it...well I probably would have made the Kyuubi female or have the personality of a pervert for amusement. Now onto the story!**

* * *

Chapter 1: Malfunction

_Unnamed Bridge, Country of Wave_

In the middle of an unnamed, unfinished bridge, clouded by mist, in the middle of an island country, trying to connect itself to the mainland in an effort to escape the clutches of a tyrant, a battle had unfolded...well two battles. Battles between two different groups of ninjas that ultimately would decide the fate of the island nation.

In one battle it was two jonin level shinobi pitted against each other. The famous Kakashi of the Sharingan with his gravity defying silver hair and mismatched eyes, against the infamous Zabuza Momochi, a man with short brown hair and if you would believe it, no eyebrows...and also a very, VERY large sword. The two were quite even in their fight, even with the disadvantages Kakashi had. Though in the mind of the silver haired ninja, things were going according to plan in the fight with him.

On the other hand though, Kakashi was much more worried about the other fight going on.

The second of the two fights taking take was occuring in a dome of ice mirrors, where two of Kakashi's students, Naruto Uzumaki, a spiky blond haired, hyperactive ninja, and Sasuke Uchiha, the duck haired emo edgelord himself, or as what Naruto thought of him as, were up against the ice wielding Haku, Zabuza's one and only partner at this point in time. The masked ninja had been using his unique jutsu to move between the mirrors at high speed to shred the two with his senbon.

And in comparison to the first fight, this second one was going badly for the side of the Konoha ninjas. Both of them had been riddled with senbons by the masked ninja, but were still standing against Haku. Well, one at this point since Naruto was essentially immobilized by the senbons.

But there seemed to be at least one silver lining for the two of them. Sasuke had finally achieved something he had long worked on gaining. The Sharingan. The Copy Wheel Eye. With it, Sasuke could finally pick up on Haku's movements. With it, Sasuke felt they could probably win this.

However, that's where things took a turn.

Haku made his move out of the mirror, causing Sasuke to prepare to jump in. But he then noticed just where Haku was going.

Right towards Naruto.

"Crap! Make it in time!" the raven haired ninja said as he dashed over to protect Naruto.

It was moments after when Naruto started to undo some of the senbons' effects when he looked up to see Sasuke had been riddled even further now by Haku's senbon. Even worse, it seemed like he was on his last legs, even bleeding in a few places.

"Sa...Sasuke? W-why? Why did you protect me!?" Naruto said with a bit of fear.

Sasuke then fell down, during which Naruto happened to catch the Uchiha mid fall. The Uchiha looked at him and said "I don't know...my body moved on its own...idiot…I wanted to defeat my brother...revive my clan...but...I guess a part of me didn't want you...to die..."

Sasuke then passed out in Naruto's arms, though at the time, it seemed much like the Uchiha heir was dead.

Haku overlooked the scene from one of the mirrors as he spoke "To protect someone dear to him, he was willing to jump into a trap...as a shinobi, he has my respect...I am sorry, but it's time to end this fight…"

Naruto put laid the Uchiha's head down on the ground, and then spoke. But it was the tone of this voice that even Haku couldn't help but flinch at.

"Shut up."

And orange energy then began to spill out of Naruto's body, circling around him. Haku couldn't help but wonder just what kind of monster he just poked.

On the outside, the battle halted for a moment, and while Kakashi could tell the seal was leaking...something felt odd. However, he put that to the back of his mind as the battle resumed.

It was at this point, two things happened.

One, a spark of red electricity jumped off the boy...and two.

* * *

_Unknown location_

Somewhere far away, the Shinigami, bringer or death, misfortune, and the summon used for the greatest sealing jutsu of all, was in the middle of drinking his tea before he suddenly felt agonizing pain coming from his stomach. It lasted a few moments, but then after calming himself, he noticed something…

"Why am I missing that man's soul?...eh whatever."

* * *

_Back at the bridge_

"I'll kill you!" Naruto said, his eyes temporarily turning red with a slit pupil. He could feel other changes as well, such as not only an improved sense of smell, but hearing and so forth. But at this point, to him it didn't matter.

Someone just killed his best friend, and they were going to pay.

Haku in his fear than sent out a wave of senbon at Naruto, who with a simple roar blew the senbon away from him. The roar didn't just do that though, but it also in its force managed to shatter all of the remaining mirrors, leaving Haku out in the open. He then rushed at Haku and then punched them in the face, the punch sending the shinobi flying. It not only broke his mask, but also very much disheveled their clothing.

Naruto then rushed forwards, ready to deal one last blow before he noticed that it was none other than the girly boy...or as he could now tell DEFINITELY a girl, was the one in front of him. He stopped his punch just short of Haku's face before he spoke.

"Why...why did it have to be you Haku? Why are you doing this?"

Haku looked at him with dead eyes before asking him "And why did you stop. I killed one of your precious people, so why?"

Naruto gave a single punch, knocking Haku to the ground, before he said "He...he was my friend, and you are too...so why…"

Haku got herself off the ground before she said "In order to fulfill Zabuza's command it had to be done...even if I didn't like doing it…"

Naruto then yelled "So why? Why do you serve a guy like that then!?"

Haku looked at him before she spoke "I owe him my life...he gave me purpose when all was lost, he protected me from the purges that came from this cursed bloodline of mine, the ability to use ice...and also from those who would want to abuse it. Thus I have chosen to follow his dream."

Naruto then retorted "Then what about this country!? What about these people?"

Haku looked down and replied "It doesn't matter anymore...if I can't be useful to him...I might as well be dead...slay me and go forward...for your dream...as well as your friend's"

Naruto was thinking about listening to her and ending her life...but then he started to pick up the sounds of another fight which he believed to be his sensei's...the sound of several large dogs biting someone...and the sound of birds chirping?

Haku, while not having Naruto's senses, also noticed this. She then said "Nevermind, it seems I have one more use!"

Haku then shunshined away towards where the fight was happening. Just as Naruto was confused, he heard a voice of a man say to him.

_You want that girl to live, then MOVE! And make sure you grab the wrist!_

Naruto in slight panic from the voice, did as it said, and he also noticed that while he no longer felt that bloodlust from before, he could feel that he was faster than before. But he didn't have time to think on it.

He then came to a scene where Kakashi was dashing towards Zabuza with his hand covered in lightning, aimed to lunge straight through the missing nin. But more importantly, Haku was rushing to intercept the attack.

He then dashed forwards, even faster than before. And in particular, he remembered what the voice said.

Just as it seemed like Kakashi was about to turn Haku into a living shield, Naruto got there in time from the side, catching Kakashi's lightning blade by grabbing his wrist at the last moment with all of his strength. The attack ended up being centimeters from the ice kunoichi's chest...much to her surprise and deeper in her mind, relief.

Now at this point, Zabuza would have probably attempted to make an attack on Kakashi...however two things had caught him completely off guard.

First was the fact that Haku nearly just sacrificed herself to protect him. He hadn't wanted her to do that in all honesty. While not telling Haku, he wanted her to grow up as a strong kunoichi that could fend for herself. But his teaching methods did not go quite to plan. He was fine with it. After this though, he thought he probably should take care of that issue.

The second was Naruto. Due to a variety of things. Especially considering he managed to catch an attack that was rumored to cut lightning...with HIS BARE HAND no less. Even he had to admit that was impressive...but there was also the changes he was noticing.

Meanwhile in Naruto's head.

_Wow, that was fucking awesome! They're awed by the sheer awesomeness I displayed I bet!...though why is it that for some reason I can hear, smell, and see better than usual, and I think I feel something on my butt...maybe it's a senbon or something...weird...oh well I'll figure it out...also what was that voice? I don't think it was the Kyuubi...but what if was?_

Meanwhile Kakashi was still in surprise in the fact that Naruto caught his Lightning Blade of all things, and supposedly, there was very...VERY few who could accomplish that, such as Ai at one point, and Kakashi's deceased sensei, Minato Namikaze, who happened to be Naruto's father. Only reasons he couldn't say anything were the laws and the threat that could come from Earth Country.

However, neither of them had the time to really think or notice the REAL issue at hand.

That was because of what happened next.

"Well well well, seems you couldn't even handle a bunch of brats Zabuza?"

This caused the three to turn towards the end of the bridge, revealing Gato, a short old man who was as greedy as they come, and a large amount of goons...er mercenaries.

"What are you doing here Gato!?" Zabuza yelled out in annoyance, this was clearly not part of what they agreed on.

Gato let out a laugh before he said "Are you an idiot? Let me make this simple for you then. I had you go and do your little fight so that afterwards, I could finish you...or them, off and then send your head to Mizu for a nice little reward. I bet I would get in that crazy bastard Yagura's good graces with that too! I'm a bit surprised though only one of you is...well dead, but it doesn't matter. All that does is you die here, I keep your pay, and I get the nice, nice bonus from the bounty office."

At this point Zabuza sighed as he said "You know in hindsight, I really should have seen this coming…"

Haku then noted "I did say that we would have been better off killing him. While I know we're trying to keep out of Mizu's radar and I normally despise killing, that scum is definitely an exception."

Zabuza hummed before he turned his head to Kakashi and said "Well, since our job is basically voided now, I guess it would be best to work together."

Kakashi just shrugged and did a nod while Naruto looked at Gato with contempt. From what Inari and the old man told him, he definitely would make sure he got what would be coming.

Though he also noticed another thing or two...such as what he heard from the other side.

"...uh...the fuck is that?"

"M-monster?"

"Are we sure this is a good idea?"

Naruto shrugged these off, thinking it was either just like the dumb and clueless villagers not understanding, or they were saying that about the guy who used a very large sword that also happened to have no eyebrows.

However, the next words that came out of Gato's mouth would be ones he would regret in hell.

"Oh, do me a favor and kill only the men, I bet we could put those women to use…"

Sakura paled at the thought, Tazuna couldn't help but glare at the man to no effect, Haku was very angry but couldn't really do anything since she was out of chakra. Kakashi was a bit annoyed at the thought, thinking that Gato was definitely a piece of trash…

Zabuza and Naruto however...they started giving off killing intent…

Naruto looked over to Zabuza and said "...first to that bastard gets to kill him?"

Zabuza looked at him as well and said "...deal…"

Naruto used his shadow clone jutsu to spawn at least 15 clones of himself, all of which pulled out two kunai. Zabuza pulled Kubikiribōchō off his back, ready to dash into the fray. Meanwhile Kakashi decided to head in along with them so that Naruto wouldn't get himself killed.

Of course Sakura couldn't really help, but then she noticed Sasuke's body on the floor and quickly dashed over there. As she sat down and laid his head on her lap, she checked his pulse and noticed two things.

_Oh thank Kami he's alive!...and has really nice hands...huh, neat _she thought. Meanwhile Haku came over as well, noticing that despite what she did, Sasuke was still alive. She simply shrugged it off for the time being before approaching so she could get the needles out safely. Maybe it would keep them in the good graces of the leaf shinobi.

Meanwhile, Tazuna simply supervised them, taking a glance as he watched the trio of Naruto, Kakashi, and Zabuza make their charge at the mercenaries...oh who am I kidding, they're goons, they're weak enough to be called goons in this story.

But to be put bluntly and without going into extremely gory detail, the three overwhelmed them all with ease. With Zabuza brutally slashing them down, Kakashi killing him with his finessed style, and lastly, Naruto beating the snot out of them.

By the time all that was left was Gato, the man was on the ground begging for his life.

Though at this point, all three of them were ready to take the bastard down...and let's just leave what happened...as something that should not be noted.

"You know, that felt great to get out." Zabuza said as they walked away from Gato's remains.

Kakashi said "Meh, he had it coming to him with that."

Naruto looked back at what was left of Gato before he said "...well, I think we went a little...overboard...but as they say...no kill like overkill?"

Kakashi shrugged while Zabuza laughed.

As they approached the others, they noticed that Sasuke was stirring, meaning that he was alive.

"HOLY CRAP YOU'RE STILL ALIVE SASUKE!" Naruto yelled in happiness.

"Shut up dobe…" Sasuke said with a bit of annoyance.

And with that things seemed to calm down...before escalating by 100%.

Sakura then said "...by the way Naruto...what's with the ears and tail?"

Naruto and Kakashi stopped dead in their tracks before taking notice of the blond boy's changes. Zabuza also did, but not in the terror both Kakashi and Naruto felt.

Naruto human ears were now gone, replaced by a pair of orange and black fox ears, similar to the Kyuubi's, stood on top of his head. He also had a tail that was orange and black. It was at this point both Kakashi and Naruto realized what had happened.

As a result, teacher and student ended up speaking in unison.

"...oh fuck."

* * *

**Naruto: So let me get this straight...you made me an actual fox boy...**

**WVH: Yep**

**Sakura: ...not gonna lie...the ears kinda look cute...**

**Naruto: ...I'll let it slide**

**Kakashi: What am I gonna tell the Sandaime though!?**

**WVH: Blame Madara**

**Kakashi: ...why?**

**WVH: Cuz other than the whole Zetsu thing...everything is his fault...think about it**

**Sasuke: ...he's not wrong**

**The Voice: Agreed**

**Kakashi: ...wait...WVH is that who I think it is?**

**WVH: Shh! Next chapter! In any case readers, don't forget to R&R and come back for the next chapter!**

**Naruto: And you better come back DATTEBAYO!**


	2. Chapter 2: Surprise! I'm still dead!

**Alright, I got bored and decided to do the 2nd chapter of this now since I feel like it, plus it better explains what is essentially going on in the story. In any case, feel free to enjoy what will be some explanations..and enjoyable banter!**

**DIS-FREAKING-CLAIMER: I do NOT own Naruto, its characters, the locations, or any part of the franchise, be it anime, manga, or so on. Those belong to Masashi Kishimoto and the property of Shueisha, Viz Media, TV Tokyo Co., and Shonen Jump, as well as many, many other content creators who shouldn't sue me just because I wrote a fanfiction based from their work. Now hush copyright Nazis, we got a chapter to air.**

* * *

Chapter 2: Surprise! I'm still dead!

_Tazuna's House, Land of Wave, shortly after_

The Konoha ninja, along with the two mist missing nins, stood silently within the room. It was quite silent.

What brought up the silence, was the fact the blond hair, orange clothing wearing boy, now had a pair of fox ears and a tail.

Naruto and Kakashi obviously knew this was likely to the Kyuubi's chakra affecting his body, Sakura and Haku had no idea whatsoever, Sasuke had his guesses, and Zabuza, while he could tell it somehow happened due to him being a Jinchurikki, didn't really care too much.

The only good thing to come out of this so far was right before the villagers showed up, Naruto quickly used a transformation to hide his new features. Of course in the end, it only helped him temporarily since while he had a lot of chakra, it wasn't like he could keep it up forever. So after heading inside and upstairs, with Sasuke and Haku both laid down on beds since they were the only ones to take decent damage without any sort of recovery fact, the group was in silence over this issue.

And before anyone says anything, Kakashi and Zabuza simply had a few bandages on at this point. Both could easily just drop into unconsciousness if they wished, they just simply thought they needed to look like the professional, jonin rank shinobi they were in front of their pupils.

Finally the one who broke the silence in the room was none other than the pinkette, Sakura.

"So...what's with those ears and tail again?"

Naruto sighed and looked at Kakashi, who simply just shrugged. At this point the secret was basically out. Heck while the others were distracted by the villagers Kakashi took a quick check of the seal and saw no severe errors based on his knowledge. So it wasn't like Naruto somehow became the Kyuubi or there was a risk of it breaking out. As a result, what he more so cared about was how everyone was going to take it.

Naruto then nodded "Okay...first off, this is, according to Old Man Third, a S-class secret."

Sasuke, Sakura, and Haku then tensed, knowing the importance of this. Zabuza already knew what he was about to say so didn't really give much of a problem.

Naruto then continued "Long story short...the Yondaime Hokage couldn't kill the Kyuubi, because killing chakra beasts for good is impossible, so instead it got sealed into me, and the villagers after hearing about this all assumed I must be the Kyuubi reborn or something and as a result, all hate me with a few trying to kill me a few times...dattebayo!"

The three looked at him with wide eyes before Kakashi added "And just so you know, he isn't the Kyuubi itself...despite his...current look, he is still the goofball ninja we all know and love."

Sasuke nodded as he said "Yeah, he wouldn't still act like a dobe otherwise."

Naruto retorted "Hey!"

Sakura then nodded "Yeah, he may have a beast sealed inside him, and now has some of its features, but it's still Naruto."

Haku then added "Yes, he is still the boy I met that day in the woods, that is for certain."

For a second Kakashi swore he could see Zabuza's eye twitch. But he ignored it...for now.

Naruto then replied "Thanks guys. It's good to know at least some people understand sealing around here…even if I don't understand much."

"_True enough."_

Naruto looked around shocked for a second, recognizing the voice from the fight previously.

The others looked at him with question marks above their heads while the voice simply chuckled a little.

"_While I would try to explain it from here...I think I have an easier method. Have your friends...and Zabuza, touch some part of your body. At that point, I'll take over from there." _the voice said.

"Uuuhhh?" Naruto replied, a little confused with the request until a second male voice spoke, this one much harsher and in Naruto's thoughts, just HAD to be the Kyuubi.

"_Just do it already fleshbag! I'd rather get this conversation over with so I can go back to sweet, blissful sleep with a side of destructive dreams."_

Naruto then looked at his friends...plus Zabuza and said "Okay guys, do me a favor and touch some part of my body."

Sasuke looked at him before he said "...wwwhhy?"

Naruto then said "Just do it. I think it's seal things."

Kakashi shrugged, guessing that since he'll probably already get in trouble for Naruto's...mutation? Transformation? Whatever people wanted to call it, he might as well go for the ride. He then walked over and put a hand on Naruto's left shoulder. The others seeing this followed suit.

Zabuza had his right shoulder, Haku his right arm, Sasuke his leg with his foot since he couldn't exactly get up at the moment, and Sakura his left arm.

At this point the first voice said "_Alright then, just a bit right here and…"_

Then for the group everything went black.

* * *

_Naruto's Mindscape, Sewer Version_

Right after it went dark, the group opened their eyes to what looked like a dark and flooded sewer system.

"Where the heck are we? And I swear if my clothes get ruined I'm blaming you Naruto-Baka!" Sakura screeched at him.

"I'm sorry!" Naruto said in response.

Meanwhile the rest of the group was looking at something else. A bit to the left of them sat a large cage, the size of the hokage monument Sasuke and Kakashi thought. Kakashi instantly knew what they were looking at before a large pair of large, crimson iris, slit pupil eyes opened and looked at them. Said creature then opened its mouth, showing its bright, shiny, white FANGS.

"_Hello fleshbags! Fear me for I am the ALMIGHTY-" _was what came out before a second voice spoke as it came down one of the halls.

"_Kyuubi, yes yes we know. Now how about we greet them nicely instead of threatening them. Will make things a lot easier."_

The Kyuubi grumbled a bit before letting the second voice take over. While everyone was a bit puzzled, Kakashi wasn't. And his one visible eye was as wide as he thought it could get.

"...please tell me this isn't one of my alcohol induced nightmares…" he muttered out.

The voice just laughed as he got closer "_No Kakashi, its not."_

The figure the voice came from walked into the light, revealing an adult in what could be guessed as mid twenties, with shaggy blond hair and bright blue eyes. He wore the jonin uniform under a white haori that had flames printed on the trim and on the back of it, the words for "Fourth" in kanji.

And while many could simply think it was an imitation, Kakashi could feel his sensei's unique chakra, it was definitely not a copy, but the man himself. "He's...real…" came out of his mouth.

At this point, everyone other than Naruto said "No way...LORD FOURTH!?"

The Fourth Hokage, Minato Namikaze, simply chuckled as he said "The one and only! Nice to meet you all!"

At this point everyone was speechless. However it was Naruto's turn to say something.

"...oh my Kami...that explains way too much."

Sakura then replied "Explains what?"

Naruto then walked over to the Namikaze before he said "Look."

Everyone other than Kakashi took a second before their eyes bulged as they yelled "EEEEHHHHH!?"

Kakashi simply laughed as he said "So that's why Lord Third asked me to never let you see a picture of him."

Naruto then shrugged "Hey, I may be an idiot, but even I'm not that stupid."

Zabuza ended up laughing his ass off at the thought, that of all the people that according to the blond, hated him, the blond also happened to be the son of their savior of all people. He could imagine the ironic reaction the civilians of Konoha would have if they learned the truth.

After recovering from his reaction, Sasuke then said "So basically, the Fourth sealed the Kyuubi into his own son to save the village, doing something that he would sacrifice himself rather than force some other parent, right?"

Minato nodded at the boy's observation as he said "_Correct, if I was going to ask someone else, what kind of shinobi would I be if I wasn't willing to risk my own...plus with Naruto having Uzumaki blood, it makes the sealing a lot smoother…plus someone else was after the Biju so it was necessary to seal it"_

Sakura then added on "Wait, if Earth Nation knew about this...couldn't they go after Naruto?"

Kakashi nodded and said "And that my student, is why we told nearly no one who his parents were."

Naruto looked at the man before he took a moment, and gave Minato a quick punch to the gut.

Naruto said "Sorry dad, you left your son the most hated child in Konoha. Had to get one in."

Minato got up as he caught his breath before he said "_Okay yeah...I deserved at least one_."

Kakashi then got to the important matter here.

"So why did you ask us to come here then sensei?" Kakashi asked him.

Minato then scratched his neck while the Kyuubi, who found what was about to come next, had a grin on its face.

Minato then began "_Well you see…"_

But before he could continue, Kyuubi interrupted "_He kinda botched the sealing, that simple_."

This was a bit alarming to the group before Minato said "_It was a slight miscalculation or two! I was working under pressure with you trying to kill me and Kushina!"_

Kyuubi laughed as it said "_And I rest my case, Kyuubi 2-Minato 1!"_

Minato looked at the Kyuubi before he said "_Okay bullcrap, we both know its 2-2 since I basically gave your bijudama the middle finger!"_

As the two had their banter, Naruto then interrupted them with "So what does that mean for me?"

Minato sighed as he explained "_Well on one end, it seems on a genetic level you've gained some of the Kyuubi's traits, including the ears, tail, heightened senses, and possibly its Fox Fire amongst other things. But don't worry, I fixed the seal so that it won't affect your body any further"_

The Kyuubi smirked as he said "_If there's one thing I love, its burning things. The only thing that can equal that would be that blasted Amaterasu...be happy I'm sealed in here and not killing you Uchiha."_

Sasuke gulped a bit before Naruto, in his well known lack of knowledge asked "The fuck is Amaterasu?"

At this point, the Kyuubi was laughing his ass off, Minato facepalmed, and Sasuke sighed as he muttered "Right...idiot…"

Kakashi sighed as he said "Amaterasu is a top tier form of fire jutsu, capable of burning anything and can only be put out by the will of the user, or when its target is destroyed. It's something that only some Uchiha can learn."

Sasuke added "Like my brother…bastard…"

Naruto looked at them before he said "Okay then...anything else?"

Minato smiled before he said "_Well apparently, it also strengthened your chakra in such a matter it strengthened the residual chakra I left here...and as a result…"_

Kakashi realized what that meant as he said "Naruto...out of all the things you could do...I never thought you could, by pure accident, pull Minato's soul out of the Dead Demon Consuming Seal…"

"_Exactly. Originally my chakra was meant to give you a temporary meeting here. As a result of what happened however, it seems that I'm now here for good. So basically, fox features...but now we get to have a bit of father son time. Isn't that nice?" _Minato said.

Naruto had a few tears of joy come out and said "Yeah...it really does…"

At this point all of the group smield for the boy before the Kyuubi went and ruined the moment.

"_Okay, happy moment and all, but could you fleshbags leave now! I'm in the mood for a nap...also can you change what this place looks like dammit!? I'm tired of living in a sewer!"_

At this point, Haku couldn't help but ask "So what is this place anyways?"

Minato responded "_Naruto's mindscape essentially_."

At this point, Sakura and Sasuke couldn't help but laugh a little, as some of the many kids implied at the idea his mind was a sewer or something. Naruto was also pretty sure they would never let him live that one down.

At that point Naruto focused, and changed the place into a forest of sorts. With all sorts of nice nature and whatnot.

Minato looked around as he said "_Wow, nice touch."_

Kyuubi, inside what looked like a majestic wooden cage added "_I'll take it! Way more comfy!"_

The others looked at him with a bit of surprise as he responded to them with "What? I like nature!"

They shrugged before Kyuubi decided time was up and with a snap of its fingers, the world went black again for them as they were sent back outside.

Meanwhile, Minato leaned on the cage as he asked "_So…you notice too?"_

Kyuubi answered "_Yes, and that ought to be hilarious, shouldn't take him too long with the enhanced senses."_

Minato then said "_True...also when are you going to stop making people think you're male?"_

The Kyuubi got itself up and looked at him before it said "_You say...ANYTHING...and I will kill you."_

Minato then said "Not from in that seal you will. Plus I'm just a soul...and I got your other half with me. You know, the more 'willing to cooperate' one?"

Kyuubi sighed as it said "_F__ine, 2-3."_

* * *

**Naruto: So in a way, I now actually have a dad in the story...that's actually kinda nice**

**Sakura: What was with that bit at the end though? It sounded like they were implying something?**

**Sasuke: Don't worry about it...I find that one thing they noted a bit amusing though.**

**Kakashi: Indeed...and I know why in particular its trying to be kept secret**

**Kyuubi: That's because you read that damn trash!**

**Minato: Eheheheh...well in any case readers, make sure to R&R and come back whenever the next chapter pops up!**

**WVH: ...Minato...you took my line there...though at least you're better than one particu-**

**A certain white haired, purple eyed individual: You rang kukuku?**

**WVH: DAMMIT NOT AGAIN!**


	3. Chapter 3:Too Old for This shit

**Here we are for chapter 3! I was thinking about doing this tomorrow, but a friend of mine was hungry for MORE. So I had to simply write this quick. And yes, the chapter is referring to who you think it is...now on with the chapter!**

**DISCLAIMER: I do not own Naruto, its characters, locations, and all that stuff. That belongs to ****Masashi Kishimoto, Shueisha, Viz Media, TV Tokyo Co., and Shonen Jump, and other content creators who would jump at the chance to copyright murder me if given the opportunity. Now STFU you darn copyright Nazis! And to the rest...enjoy :D**

* * *

Chapter 3: Too Old for This Shit

_The Unnamed, now completed bridge, Land of Wave_

The group, along with Inari, Tazuna, and his daughter Tsunami, plus the Mist duo, were standing on the Wave side of the bridge. Reason being was now all the members had recovered enough so that now they could leave the country and in the case of the Konoha ninja, go home.

However, Kakashi couldn't help but ask Zabuza "So...what are you going to do next."

Zabuza paused for a moment and said "Well...maybe we could ally with Leaf and get them to help us with another attempt on the Mizukage?"

Kakashi deadpanned at him for a moment before he asked "Whhhyyy?"

Zabuza looked at him straight in the eye before he replied "Ok, let me ask you. Would you want to work for a murderous psychopath who kills innocent people just because they either happen to have a unique ability or two, decide to speak against him, or just simply not like him?"

Kakashi was still for a moment before he said "Fair point...who knows, maybe after your failed assassination attempt they raised a rebellion or something?"

Zabuza then added "If they did, I'd be impressed. There hasn't been any successful ones yet."

* * *

_Elsewhere_

Speaking of, at that moment in time, the busty Mei Terumi had raised her rebellion against Yagura, and so far was doing better than any of the previous tries so far. Guess can't send a man to do a woman's job in that case then?

* * *

_Back at the bridge_

In any case though, the group said their goodbyes to each other, and while they tried not to, both Naruto and Inari were crying like children at the end.

Sasuke said in response "Dobe, you really can't hold it in until after we're away from them?"

Naruto, wiping away his tears retorted "Hey, its called I have feelings, and I spent a lot more time with them than you did."

Sasuke looked away, a hint of a smile on his face as he said "True enough..and it could be worse, you could cry at every goodbye or sob story. Or mope at every unfortunate event."

Naruto couldn't help but say to that "...fair point."

Somewhere in the afterlife one such person couldn't help but sit in a corner moping at how the current generation were treating him.

Before long the group then started making their way back towards Konoha, chatting with each other along the way. Haku and Naruto ended up getting along due to similar personalities to each other, Sasuke basically tolerated everyone from what Naruto saw, and meanwhile Kakashi and Zabuza ended up sharing some of their feats...the majority of Zabuza's being as Naruto put it...overkill.

Haku nudged him as she said "Well you were the one to say no kill like overkill, right?"

Naruto simply shrugged as he said "Fair enough."

Naruto then asked her "By the way, why did you say you were male before?"

Haku paused for a moment before she said "Well, first off there was what Gato said, then there's how villages like Kumo with how they treat their bloodlines...trust me you don't want to know."

Naruto nodded, he at least remembered a few things from his classes. One of which was that Kumo was well known for being power hungry, and very treacherous when it came to bloodline ninjas.

Haku then added "Lastly...I tend to enjoy a prank or two. I will admit the look on your face was quite enjoyable. I've even tricked Zabuza once or twice with a good one"

Zabuza overheard this before he said "Haku...don't remind me…"

Naruto at this point asked "...want to hear about my pranks?"

Haku then smiled, but not a nice smile, more like a smirk instead.

"I'm listening"

Meanwhile one thought was going through Zabuza and Kakashi's heads.

_Oh no...not another one…_

Meanwhile Minato couldn't help but enjoy the conversations...and also thinking back to the few times Kushina pulled him into her prank sprees, he was definitely sure Naruto got her love of pranks from her...especially considering a few of his ended up being similar, except the fact Naruto enjoyed the use of orange paint rather than red. Though he did have to give Naruto props for the Hokage mountain one. He set that one up perfectly, aside from the 'getting caught' part.

After a bit more of conversing, Haku ended up walking alongside Zabuza so she could talk with him for a bit.

Zabuza said "So, seems you're making new friends...especially that Uzumaki boy."

Haku nodded as she said "Indeed, they're pleasant people, especially Naruto."

Zabuza then hummed a moment before he said "So...got something on you mind?"

Haku let a grin come to her mouth. She then checked to make sure the blond boy wasn't paying attention to them. He apparently was having his own little conversation with Sakura, who was a bit curious about how his body was affected.

Upon confirmation, Haku whispered to Zabuza "Remember how I put Sasuke to near death?"

Zabuza looked a bit confused before asking her "Yes, why?"

Haku whispered "I was actually trying to kill him, but apparently, I misjudged where a thing or two was. And I made sure to specifically target HIS vitals."

Zabuza paused for a moment before he ended up nearly laughing his butt off at the information Haku gave him.

_If that's the case, now I have another reason to follow these brats...for my AMUSEMENT!_ He thought as the info sat into his mind. This was just as good as the info that Naruto was the son of the 4th Hokage if what he heard about Uchiha boys and their tendency to draw in fangirls was true.

The only other one who picked up on their little conversation was Kakashi, who simply thought _Well, seems they'll probably enjoy themselves in Leaf_.

It was at this point Naruto went over to Kakashi as he said "You know, it's a lot more different spending time in nature now that my senses are better."

Kakashi decided to oblige the boy with conversation as he said "Is that so?"

Naruto replied, "All the smells, sounds, and all that get so much more pronounced...weird thing is though that for some reason...Sasuke smells more like Sakura does in comparison. Maybe just they use similar soap or something?"

Kakashi just simply noted "I see."

In the back of his mind though he started to wonder if he would win his bet with the Sandaime on how long it would take people, particularly the loudmouth Naruto, would realize Sasuke's little secret. But that could be put aside for now.

After all, he said in the middle of the chunin exams it would happen. And he was really hoping that would be the case. After all...both of them had something on the line.

* * *

_A bit later on, like a little less than a week or so._

_Hokage's office, Konohagakure, Land of Fire_

The Third stared at the group that was the current generation's Team 7, plus the extra two ninja that were missing nin Zabuza Momochi, and Haku, technically a nin with no affiliation other than Zabuza. Only two of his trusted Anbu were in the room, going between keeping an eye on these two in particular...and the fact that after securing the room Naruto dispelled his transformation jutsu so that they could see the changes in Naruto's body while Kakashi explained. It was a bit of a shock for them.

Other than the Anbu though, there was none other than the big, white haired man none other than the Toad Sage Jiraya, self proclaimed Mega Pervert, author of the Icha-Icha series, and one of Konoha's strongest shinobi besides himself. He didn't count the other two sannin since one had turned into a mad scientist traitor and the other simply drank and gambled away any money sent to her while refusing to come back to the village. He could live with Jiraya since unlike those two, he stayed loyal.

The Sandaime then spoke "So let me get this straight...you want me to believe that Minato screwed up in his seal that resulted in Naruto gaining this...form, while also causing Minato's soul to somehow be pulled out of the Dead Demon Consuming Seal and into his...and that these two here became your allies and now want to work with us in order to eventually get rid of Yagura as the Mizukage?"

Kakashi responded "Yes sir."

The Sandaime then said "Jiraya, I suggest you check the seal to be sure."

The man then nodded, but before he got the chance, Minato spoke to Naruto.

"_Hey Naruto, I want to try something here. That okay with you?"_

_Uh sure? _Naruto thought in mind speak. It was something his father had been working on with him.

Naruto afterwards then said "Wait a second, I want to try something here."

Jiraya looked over at the Third who simply nodded. He wanted to at least give the boy some leeway, considering to him, Naruto was like a grandson aside from Konohamaru.

Naruto then according to his father's instructions made a shadow clone.

But then the shadow clones eyes flashed for a second, and he then proceeded to use the transformation jutsu, appearing as the Fourth Hokage.

The transformed clone then said "And it worked. Hello Sensei and Lord Third."

At first Hiruzen wasn't sure but according to Naruto's story he decided to jump on it.

"Is that you, Minato Namikaze?"

The transformed shadow clone nodded "Yes, I figured that I could use Naruto's clone as an avatar of sorts to speak through. I just had him make the clone and let me take control from within his mindscape. And before you ask, no I cannot use some of my jutsus. Naruto's chakra is a lot harder to control than mine was."

Naruto looked at his father...or avatar his father was using before he said "Wait, why didn't we do this before?"

Minato then said to him "Well, the Kyuubi wanted to meet with you as well, and unlike me, it can't do this since its still locked behind the deeper part of the seal. So unlike me, it can't do this."

"_Oh well fuck you too!" _the Kyuubi roared in Naruto and Minato's minds, much to Minato's amusement.

Jiraya paused for a moment before he walked over to him, and then asked him.

"Okay...what was one of the things I asked you for when I was writing my books?"

"You said 'Join the pervy side, we have many, many beautiful women to peep on'." Minato replied.

Jiraya nodded as he said "Yeah, he's real. Minato was the only person there when I said that."

Minato chuckled as he said "And you never will Sensei."

Naruto and Zabuza was trying hard not to laugh. Kakashi was nodding at the thought since he too had joined the pervy side, though not as much as Jiraya was. Meanwhile the rest had a hard time believing what they were hearing, considering the supposed teacher of the Fourth Hokage actually said that.

The Third Hokage smiled a little before all the ramifications of the situation hit his mind again. Naruto was now somehow part Kyuubi, Minato's soul ended up now also stuck in the seal, and he also had a missing nin from Kiri and his pupil wanting to work with/join Leaf so that they could eventually help with the whole situation over there.

The Third took a huff of his pipe before he spoke. His tone not the Grandfatherly figure the younger generation was used to...but as the head of Konoha.

"Well then...I guess I'll have to accept this. First off, Naruto's current condition is a SS class secret, and can only be revealed by me or the boy himself. Second, Minato since you're now stuck with him, I want you to teach the boy, and the other members of Team 7 if you have the time, as much as you can. Also, Anbu, I would like you to have the Namikaze estate made into Naruto's. We'll say that we decided to move him there in an attempt to improve his living conditions and use a building that hasn't been used in a while and won't be getting use otherwise. Until then, Team 7 is to remain on standby"

Everyone nodded in response to the first part, Minato alone to the second part, and one of his Anbus, a woman with purple hair, to the third part. The last part all of Team 7 responded with a "Yes sir!".

The Third Hokage continued "Lastly, as for you two, I have no problems in enlisting Haku after having her take an exam of sorts to prove herself. If successful, I will have her join as a 4th member to Team 7 since she is 'in the know'. As for you Zabuza, I would like to let our interrogation corps question you a bit. Though since you seem to be in Minato's favor, I will at least let them do so 'kindly'. Understood?"

Haku and Zabuza replied with a "Yes sir." Though Zabuza was a bit surprised it came out of his mouth. But then again, he was being asked, no ordered, this by the man once known as a God of Shinobi. He certainly had that commanding air around him when he needed it.

Hiruzen then took a look at Jiraya before he said "Lastly, I want you to make sure no information leaked about Naruto's appearance. If any of the Hyugas caught it…"

Jiraya nodded "Of course Sensei."

Hiruzen then looked at the group before he spoke "Now, you are dismissed to your duties!"

The group, the purple haired Anbu, and Jiraya then left the vicinity to do what they were asked.

After he was sure everyone other than Tenzo left, he quickly pulled open a part of his desk to reveal many...many bottles of sake. He kept them here specifically for times like this.

"Sir...are you sure you should be drinking right now?" the remaining Anbu said.

Hiruzen looked at him before he said "First, I am Hokage, I don't need you to question what I do. Second...I need it after that mind trip."

The Anbu then replied "...fair enough...just don't do what you did that one time with your paperwork."

The Hokage couldn't help but pout a little before taking a drink. The last time he got drunk in the office he ended up deciding to burn a whole pile of paperwork. And while he regretted it the next day, at the moment it felt great.

"I'm too old for this shit." he said as he took another drink.

* * *

**WVH: Ah, the greatest enemy of all leaders...paperwork.**

**Minato: True enough...I'm just lucky I figured out the secret to not having to suffer it as much.**

**Hiruzen: That reminds me...WHAT IS THE SECRET!? I MUST KNOW!**

**Naruto: ...okay besides that, what's this weird inside joke everyone keeps talking about?**

**Haku: Oh, you'll get it soon.**

**Sakura: ...no...no no no. WVH, WHY YOU DO THIS TO ME!?**

**Sasuke: ...sigh, this is going to be a problem.**

**WVH: ...yeah, I think I broke her...**

**Kakashi: Mah mah, she'll get over it.**

**Naruto: Over what? Tell me!**

**WVH: Don't worry about it Naruto. In any case, to all our viewers out there, I hope you enjoyed the chapter and will R&R as well as come back for the next chapter!**

**A red haired boy from somewhere else: So this is why you weren't writing another chapter for my story?**

**WVH: ...siiiiiigggghhh. I really need to stop letting them somehow jump worlds to do this to me...**


	4. Chapter 4: Training Hell and More!

**Oh would you look at that, the next chapter of the series is here! And if you're going to ask, I'm considering focusing on this one for chapters daily (if not 2-3 days), while Elsword: The Magician II will be weekly instead. Though don't bet on that. Shit happens. Anyways, last time the Hokage gave the group their orders...now how will their training before the Chunin exam arc go? Find out below...after the disclaimer.**

**DISCLAIMER: I do not, I say, I do NOT own Naruto, its characters, any of the locations, or the techniques from the franchise. I do however own this story and whatever custom techniques I came up with. If I did own Naruto though, I wouldn't be writing this disclaimer and making myself look like a repetitive idiot in the process. Now shut up to the Copyright Nazis, and enjoy the chapter!**

* * *

Chapter 4: Training Hell and More

_Training Ground 3, Konohagakure, Land of Fire_

It was about two days after the group returned from Wave when they met up over at the Third Training Ground, the same one the original Team 7 trio used before Wave, mainly during Kakashi's infamous bell test.

However this time they were joined by Haku. Unlike before however, since her gender had been revealed, why she still wore the same style of clothing, there were at least two differences.

The first being that she obviously no longer wore her mask that she used as a Hunter Nin disguise, showing her slender, beautiful face and chocolate color eyes to all. Second was that while before she bandaged her...assets down to only be noticeable if her clothes were messed up, now she didn't bandage them as tightly.

Of course, Sakura felt her eye twitch for a moment while her inner self was screaming about the injustice of bust size...but she simply ignored it.

Naruto, under a transformation jutsu to hide his fox features, said to the ice user "Hey Haku! If you're here, guess that means you passed!"

Haku nodded with a smile, she had to admit she enjoyed the blond's enthusiasm, it was almost contagious. She then looked over towards Sasuke who simply gave the classic Uchiha "Hnn."

She was now according to the Third Hokage part of Team 7. She had taken her exam yesterday, which was fairly easy since she had been trained by a Jonin level shinobi for years, and unlike him, they weren't basing their test off of wartime standards. Though then again, she also started to wonder if perhaps Zabuza had gone easy on her at times, but decided to not worry about it.

Though of course, one thing that she came to be annoyed about in the village was the blasted civilian council. They straight up demanded that she make them children, even more so if it was with the Uchiha. Fortunately Lord Third was tired of their crap as of late and forbade them from bothering Haku.

However, she was also laughing on the inside since if they knew what she knew about Sasuke, it would make them run around like headless chickens.

What surprised the entirety of Team 7 though, including Haku herself, was of all the things, Kakashi arrived on time.

That's right, for once, he wasn't late.

Sakura's face went pale, Sasuke and Haku's eyes grew as wide as saucers, and Naruto started muttering about the apocalypse.

* * *

_Hokage's Office_

Even the Sandaime from his office felt a slight disturbance, just to check his crystal ball to notice that Kakashi was on time for once.

The Sandaime paused for a moment before he said "Either Kakashi has decided to take his job seriously….or the world is about to end...well, fingers crossed!"

One of the Anbus in the room responded "Oh come on, he's not that bad."

The second Anbu then said "Oh he is, I remember the one time he arrived a DAY late to his own birthday party. Then there was the time when he arrived two hours late to a funeral. For the previous fire Daiymo. That was nearly a disaster."

The first Anbu simply blinked in astonishment before they said "...point taken."

* * *

_Back at the Training Ground_

Kakashi looked at them with a bit of a deadpan before he said "What, am I really that late all of the time?"

"Yes, yes you are." the four members of Team 7...as well as several nearby Anbu members said at the same time.

Kakashi simply shrugged it off before he said "Alright alright. In any case, let's get to work then. First though, Naruto if you would?"

Naruto nodded before making a single Shadow clone for his father to take over. Though since this wasn't a private setting, he stuck with looking like his son.

Minato then said to them "I can't teach you each of you everything, but I will at least give you pointers on what you need. We all have our own strong suits that can be worked on. So in any case, I'll be giving you direction, and Kakashi here will make sure you follow on it."

Kakashi nodded as he said the words that would begin the next month for the group "Alright then, let's begin. Also, even though we're training, we'll still be doing missions, and you know what that means!"

The latter part of said sentence made the entirety of Team 7, minus Minato and Kakashi, groan in unison.

* * *

_Sasuke's Training_

For Sasuke's training, Minato put him under direct supervision of Kakashi, due to his thoughts on how similar their fighting styles were. Kakashi accepted the task with a shrug and Sasuke a 'hnn'.

This ended up including three things, sparring, practice on using the sharingan, and also…

"Okay Sasuke, since you know some fire style jutsus, I want to test your chakra natures, who knows, maybe you have another element available." Kakashi said as he pulled out a piece of paper. Sasuke knew what the paper was for after all, so he simply took it out of his hand and charged his chakra in it. And the results.

"Let's see...oh would you look at that, fire and lightning. While you do have your fire style down to par already, the fact you have lightning makes this quite good for you." Kakashi said to Sasuke.

"And why is that?" Sasuke asked the cyclops jonin.

"Because it's my specialty." Kakashi said with one of his eye smiles.

Sasuke nodded, being ready for anything.

"Now for starters…" Kakashi spoke as he reached into his pouch.

"...light these light bulbs."

...Sasuke wasn't ready for this.

Kakashi laughed as he said "Oh relax, it could be worse. If you had water affinity, you would have to actually go into the water, and yes, I know that secret."

Sasuke looked at him in alarm before he said "...don't you dare tell the loudmouth or the fangirl...I am definitely not ready for that disaster."

"It was your choice you know." Kakashi replied.

Sasuke shook his head before he said "No, more like dad's."

Kakashi thought about this for a moment before he said "...makes sense."

* * *

_Sakura's Training_

While Sasuke was off getting the majority of Kakashi's attention, Sakura could only think of her tasks as a hellish boot camp.

First, not only did she have to quit dieting. She whined about it at first, but with Kakashi nudging Sasuke, Sasuke convinced her that if she wanted to be a worthy ninja, she needed to stop it. So in the end she obliged.

However, it was the second part that made her think of this as a boot camp from hell.

"Come on Sakura! Embrace the power of youth!"

Of all the things Kakashi-Sensei and Lord Fourth had to do to her, it was to have Might Gai, the bowl cut training nut (OF YOUTH!), be her fitness instructor. She would have sworn his regime was inhuman if she didn't see what she first couldn't help but think of Gai's clone, as well as their two other teammates do so as well. Heck, the one with her brown hair set up in two buns, Tenten, she was getting along with out of sympathy.

Besides the end of her dieting and training hell though, she was also reporting to the Konoha hospital in order to learn medical ninjutsu (aka iryojutsu). Lord Fourth said that with her chakra control, she could learn medical ninjutsu or genjutsu quite well. Though she chose the former, mainly because when she told Tenten about her current regime, Tenten told her about the Sannin Tsunade, who was an expert in taijutsu and iryojutsu. And so, she learned from the medical ninja there so that she could at least get herself up to par as a field medic for the team.

* * *

_Haku's Training_

While the others were being trained by instructors or so forth, Haku on the other hand was on her own. Minato had recommended to her to expand her repertoire of ice style jutsu, and possibly water and wind since those were the chakra natures that made up the ice style chakra nature. This meant testing her control over the ice style as well as improving it. And while she did have a decent amount of water jutsu and control due to Zabuza, on the other hand...

"Hmm...this is a bit more difficult than it looks." she thought as she worked on trying to cut a leaf with wind chakra for training. She then looked behind her to see many...many other leaves that were either partially cut, or damaged in other ways.

However, her work on ice style was showing her efforts, she had to admit without Zabuza hovering over her at the moment, she was getting a little creative with it...as the sheer amount of ice and snow all over the training field she was in showed.

And of course she did sense a few other presences lying around, however one presence in particular seemed to scare them from doing anything.

She wondered though just what Zabuza was up to though.

* * *

_Zabuza's situation_

In comparison to Team 7, Zabuza was getting a bit more of a cold shoulder from the village. However, they were quite cooperative with him. But then again, he did have quite a nasty reputation. It was times like this he really wondered what the fuck was he thinking when he slaughtered that class back in Kiri.

In any case though, they ended up accepting his story after several, annoying hours of questioning, and Hiruzen would be sending several Anbu to Mist to get some info from there. Meanwhile he decided with Zabuza's skills and current reputation to put him in the Anbu, which he said would allow him to blend in a bit since all the Anbu tend to wear masks.

Next thing he knew, he was given the codename 'Demon', an Anbu mask that went with that, and a job that Zabuza, just from his first glance, accepted with a "I'll take it!"

His first job with them was to literally guard Haku. The Third Hokage told him that one of his...less savory acquaintances, might attempt to make a move on Haku despite him telling the Civilian Council Haku was to not be disturbed by them. And while he wasn't given permission to kill...he very much enjoyed making from what he could tell were emotionless shinobi, actually feel fear.

Use the girl he considered his daughter as a farm for ice jutsu users? In their dreams!

Though he still couldn't help but let his eye twitch every time Haku was enjoying herself in Naruto's company. Heck the guy he was working with gave a bit of a snicker.

As for said boy…

* * *

_Naruto's Training...that took place away from the rest of the group so he doesn't need to keep up a transformation jutsu the whole damn time._

If Sakura thought she was being put through the ringer, Naruto had it just as hard. His father was training him in a variety of subjects in a special training ground he made under the Namikaze Estate. At first, Naruto thought it would be great!...but now he knew it hurt...a LOT.

First, there was taijutsu training, in which Minato was working on fixing up all of the errors in Naruto's fighting styles...mainly being...

"Naruto, again, don't run in blind. Think before you do!" Minato said to him after putting him in an arm lock.

"UUUUGGHHH! DARNIT!" Naruto groaned in annoyance.

On the plus side though, he was slowly showing improvement in the subject.

As for his ninjutsu, he was getting help from Minato on wind release, which was revealed to be his natural chakra nature. Though of course he ended up getting quite annoyed at the leaf cutting exercise until Minato recommended using Shadow Clones, revealing the jutsu's secret to him as well. Besides that Minato was drilling Naruto in chakra control exercises. Naruto found himself quite annoyed that due to what happened to him, not only did his reserve nearly double in size...but his chakra control essentially got cut in half. The Kyuubi seemed to enjoy the free entertainment though of first watching Naruto fall off trees over and over, and later fall into ice water at a lake Minato asked Haku to cool down beforehand.

All of the above was better than his genjutsu though. Due to his abysmal chakra control, the fourth simply taught him how to break genjutsus.

As for the training from Kyuubi though…

"_...Wow...just...wow"_

"Hey! I didn't mean to set the whole tree on fire!" Naruto pouted.

The Kyuubi laughed its evil laugh as it said "_Fleshbag, it's called right now, you suck."_

Naruto was quite annoyed with the Kyuubi when it came to the training Naruto how to use the Kyuubi's Fox Fire. However it was quite different in learning how to use his new senses. At the point about a month had passed, Naruto's senses were not only controlled, but he even could be said to be better than an Inuzuka. Even the Kyuubi felt like gloating a little that at least one part of the training from the Kyuubi was going better than Minato's.

"_Hah! Take that fool! Now it's 3-3!"_

Minato ruined its gloating though as he said "_You forgot about my little clone trick that you can't do, so actually 4-3."_

As a result, in the seal the Kyuubi ended up pouting for a bit at him. It swore that if there was one thing for certain, it wouldn't be letting the Fourth Hokage of all people get the last laugh.

* * *

_The whole group_

However, if there was one thing all of Team 7, minus Kakashi who didn't care and Minato who found it amusing, all despised, it was the D-rank missions.

Varying from cleaning up someone's yard, painting a fence, babysitting, and the horrid, horrid mission of catching the infamous Tora, it was all something they got annoyed about.

On the plus side though, there was one or two C-rank missions that they occasionally did. Of course in comparison to their first C-rank mission, it wasn't as hectic. But then again, most genin didn't get missions that went from C-rank all the way to A-rank because it turned out your client was being targeted by high rank missing nins.

Though one positive result was the team was improving on their bonds with each other, which was in fact the objective of low rank missions. Team-Building.

Plus the pranks Naruto and Haku sometimes pulled on some of the populace. While it made the two closer...I'll be nice enough to leave the civilians some digni...oh who am I kidding? I'll tell you they swapped the merchandise of several shops with Naruto's knowledge of fuinjutsu with Haku doing distractions, messing up many peoples' sense of heat with well timed control of fire and ice. And lastly, painting an entire street's worth of civilian shops, who never sell to Naruto for being the Kyuubi brat, in orange paint, outside AND inside mind you, and with Haku then freezing it afterwards to make it harder to get off. The Third Hokage couldn't help but wonder whether to laugh at the pranks, or blame them for the headaches caused by the civilians afterwards.

However, there was also one other thing that occurred during this time…

* * *

_With Jiraya_

"Do you understand what I mean don't tell anyone?" Jiraya said to the young bluenette girl with pale eyes.

Hinata nodded as she said "I-I do."

Jiraya then asked her "And do you have fear of him?"

Hinata then shook her head as she said "No of course not! I think they make him look c-cute...er cool...I d-don't know which one!"

Jiraya nodded before he the moment of realization popped into his head.

_Omikami...is this the Hyuuga they mentioned had a crush on Naruto? Okay one, that's a lucky break for us. And two...that lucky little motherfucker! I know that ice girl is into him too but both of them are gonna grow up to be fine women! It's almost like Minato all over again!...Wait a minute...unlike Minato, Naruto could be put under CRA if he wanted t-_

Hinata was a bit weirded out by the perverted grin that seemed to appear on the Sannin's face before she said "Um...Jiraya-sama?"

That happened to snap him out of it as his face got back in order as he said "Right, you're dismissed."

The moment she left, Jiraya quickly pulled out his notebook before writing down furiously while he thought _My godson is a KAMI damn gold mine! I have to make sure though he or his eventual women never know I used them as writing material...I do not need a repeat of what Kushina and Mikoto did to me that one time…_

* * *

In any case, Team 7 trained, Jiraya wrote for his smut in his notebook, Zabuza simply guarded over his step daughter, and the Third Hokage suffered the agony of paperwork, with one or two of those days he had a hangover.

And so, about a month had passed…

And while Team 7 and the other rookie teams remained ignorant of it…

The Chunin exams hosted in Konoha would begin soon.

* * *

**Minato: Well, I hope everyone's training shows in the upcoming arc.**

**Sakura: ...I don't know what I hate you more for WVH...what you're doing to Sasuke in this story...or tossing me to Might Gai of all people...**

**WVH: Do you want to wait til post time skip to be useful?**

**Sakura: ...**

**Zabuza: Damn that was cold.**

**Haku: Indeed, and I'm the ice user here.**

**Naruto: It's okay Sakura, at least you'll be useful this time around in the Chunin Exams.**

**Sakura: Thanks Naruto.**

**Sasuke: As long as we don't have to deal with that white skinned pedo we'll be fine.**

**Orochi-pedo: You ran-...WVH, what is the meaning of this?**

**WVH trying to hold back his laughter: In any c-case everyone, d-don't forget to R&R and come back for more!**

**WVH then runs away laughing from an angry Orochi-Pedo.**

**Naruto: ...I'm saving that one.**


	5. Chapter 5: Calm Before the Storm

**And we're back for chapter 5! Well, I wrote most of it yesterday, but ended up getting dragged all over the place, and then a majority of today was work, so yeah, a little late for a chapter, but screw it.**

**Also, to the flamer in the reviews, here's a thought. If you don't like the idea of a human with fox ears and a tail, YOU SHOULD HAVE READ THE DESCRIPTION BEFORE READING THE CHAPTER! I mean, if you're gonna complain about it, you should have noticed the 'Kitsune Naruto' I wrote in the summary. So in all honesty, all you did was annoy and also make yourself look dumb.**

**In any case, last chapter we had the group go through some training before the exams...partially because I wanted to skip any of the filler that would have occurred right around this time...yeah I dislike filler. Few few fillers ever end up good. But in any case, here's the chapter!...oh wait right, the disclaimer first.**

**DISCLAIMER: Everyone repeat after me. I do not own Naruto, its characters, locations, or any part of the franchise. Those all belong to ****Masashi Kishimoto, Shueisha, Viz Media, TV Tokyo Co., and Shonen Jump, and other content creators. NOT ME. I do own the story though, and any of the crap I come up that's unique from the show. In any case now that the Copyright Nazis can't yell at me, enjoy!**

* * *

Chapter 5: Calm Before the Storm

_Village Streets, Konohagakure, Land of Fire_

It had been about a month since the group's regimen of training had begun, and all of them were seeing improvements in their skills. The group had been quite glad with themselves for this...though Sakura still complained a little whenever she had to visit the training hell Gai had been giving her. Though on the plus side, she could at least, according to Tenten's remarks, now call herself an actual ninja.

Heck, she even started to wonder what the heck she was thinking before on restricting herself in the ways she did. If anything, she was pretty sure if she met a past version of herself, she would whip their butt into gear before Kakashi got the bright idea to let the psycho training nut be in charge of her physical fitness. But then again, she couldn't really complain when her previously wimpy punches could now send idiot bandits she met on missions flying.

Sasuke of course, was in a good mood as well, actually smiling a bit more often...whenever fangirls weren't around. He ended up improving his taijutsu to be faster and stronger with Kakashi as well as becoming accustomed to the Sharingan. More importantly though, Kakashi also taught the Uchiha several lightning style jutsus after he got his lightning manipulation up enough. Though Kakashi also promised that if Sasuke got to the finals, he would teach him a very special technique, thus motivating him further to be stronger.

Though he was still a bit worried about 'that' getting out. He was pretty darn sure Naruto in particular would catch on soon. And in his mind, he knew that with his loud mouth, everyone would hear it.

Haku on the other hand managed to learn a few wind style jutsus and create a few ice style ones. Most of them were fairly simple, though she did feel happy with what she accomplished over the month.

As for Naruto...let's say at least he was now good enough in fuinjutsu that he could use seals to hide his fox ears and tail. Though it did restrict his power a little, Minato simply called it a form of training on its own.

In any case, the group was walking back from their previous mission, having been a decent success, with a blunder or two, but it didn't cause too many problems.

Sakura was doing a bit of screeching at Naruto for one such thing.

"NEXT TIME AIM BETTER DARNIT!" Sakura yelled.

Naruto yelped "I SAID I DIDN'T MEAN TO! I'M SORRY!"

Sasuke simply sighed at the antics of the two, while Haku merely giggled a little before attempting to cool Sakura down. Outside of when she was having fun with pranking with Naruto, she tended to be the mediator of the group. Heck as Minato saw it, he literally told Kakashi that out of all the groups members, she was the one who kept them glued together.

"Calm down Sakura, while I know you liked having your hair long, we at least made it so that it looks fine. Besides, having long hair out in battle isn't always helpful." Haku said to the pinkette, calming her down. During the mission, one of Naruto's flame attacks ended up singeing some of Sakura's hair towards the part that she originally had go down her back. As a result, Haku ended up helping her cut her hair short before they got back.

Sakura sighed as she said "I guess you're right…" she paused for a moment before she asked "Wait, is that why you always style your hair in a bun whenever we're training or on missions?"

Haku nodded, and Sakura looked slightly downcast as she realized she could have easily avoided the situation if she had a way to keep her hair up while on the job.

Naruto tried to comfort her as he said "It's okay Sakura, even with short hair you're cute."

Sakura for a second nearly thought the boy looked cute as well before she shook her head and said "You're the reason for it in the first place!"

However, Kakashi picked up on this as he thought _Like Father like Son it seems, always accidentally entrancing women...though in comparison, Naruto might actually end up in a situation Jiraya would write in his books...maybe if I give him this info he'll send me an advanced copy._

Before Kakashi could ponder his thoughts any further, he noticed a hawk flying in the skies above, one that he recognized.

"Ah, its that time again." came out of the Scarecrow-Sensei's mouth.

Naruto picked up on this with his hearing as he said "Time for what?"

Kakashi simply shook his question off with a wave of his hand before he said "Don't worry about it. In any case, I'll go ahead and make our report to the Hokage tower. You four go ahead and enjoy the rest of the day. See ya!"

He then disappeared in a poof of smoke, though Naruto could sense it was merely a distraction he used for his shunshin.

_Showoff _he thought.

After Kakashi left, Sakura went over to Sasuke as she asked "Hey Sasuke! Want to hang out for a bit? I can buy us lunch."

Sasuke shook his head as he said "Not right now, got important...clan things to do. Later."

Sasuke then left the group, waving as he walked away. Though for some reason Naruto smelled something weird about it. A slight smell of blood. Though he shrugged it off, guessing it was probably just a bruise or something.

* * *

_Naruto's Mindscape_

Meanwhile inside his seal, the Kyuubi sputtered, trying hard to not laugh, while Minato simply ended up facepalming a little.

Minato let out a sigh as he said "_it seems my son is quite dense at times…first the Hyuuga girl, and now this?" _

The Kyuubi shrugged before it said "_Well, he gets it from you."_

Minato looked at the Kyuubi before he said "_Oh I wasn't that bad."_

Kyuubi deadpanned as it replied "_Mikoto, Kurenai, and don't even get me started on that fan club."_

Minato paused for a moment and swore "_...oh fuck...you're right…"_

The Kyuubi simply grinned as it gloated "_And 4-4"_

* * *

_Back outside_

Of course Naruto heard none of this conversation. He was considering to comfort Sakura before he noticed a square shaped rock in the middle of the road.

He let out a bit of a smile before he said out loud "You know, rocks are supposed to be round, not RECTANGULAR!"

The box then disappeared in a poof of smoke before revealing three young children. One being a boy with brown hair and a droopy nose, another being a girl with her hair styled like a V. And lastly, the leader of the group, a boy with black hair with a small topknot poking out on the back of his head. All of them however, shared the fact they had a set of green goggles like Naruto used to wear.

These were Konohamaru and his friends, blasting off at the speed of light, sur-oh wait, wrong series...

"As expected from my rival!" Konohamaru said as he pointed at Naruto.

The blond smirked as he replied "Alright Konohamaru, what is it this time?"

The girl with the orange hair answered "You were gonna play ninja with us today, remember?"

"Ah, right...well I guess I got time." Naruto noted.

Sakura looked at him with a cocked eyebrow before she said "A ninja playing ninja, really?"

Naruto replied back to her "Well, it's important for a future Hokage to be able to work well with future subordinates right? So why not make said bonds now?"

Sakura was considering admonishing him, but she realized he did have a point in that regard. She still found it weird that sometimes Naruto actually sounded a bit sagely, but figured he was maturing a bit...but then again, still Naruto.

Haku simply nodded as she said "I see, it does make sense."

Konohamaru pulled Naruto over for a second before he asked "So...which one is your lady friend, if you know what I mean?"

For a moment, one could see a slight blush on the two kunoichis' faces, but it disappeared just as quickly...Sakura more so with the next remark.

Konohamaru then said "Wait, nevermind, it's definitely not the pink one, she's kinda ugly in a few ways." while pointing at Sakura.

Haku couldn't help but sweatdrop at the child's ignorance, and Naruto started sweating bullets.

Even Minato couldn't help but say "_Oh dear…"_

Meanwhile Sakura's hair hung over her face, and started cracking her knuckles.

Naruto slowly turned his head towards Konohamaru before he said a single word.

"Run."

Next thing Naruto and Konohamaru's friends knew, they were running from an angry Sakura, who was very ready, and willing to send at least one of the brats flying. She wasn't going to go full force on them, but just enough to teach them a lesson...and Naruto too since he did have some influence on the brats.

However, plans changed when Konohamaru cut a corner and ran into a young man in completely black clothing, with the hood on top looking like a cat, and lastly, purple war paint on his face in an ever so delicate pattern...or for those of you of the comedic sort, makeup.

Konohamaru fell down and the youth's pants were stained with dirt as a result. The youth, being annoyed grabbed the child by his collar before he said "Hey twerp, what are you doing running into me like that?"

A second youth, a girl with purple clothing that ended with fish netting on the arms and legs, and lastly a giant fan on her back, walked over as she said "Kankuro, put him down. We don't want to cause a scene."

Kankuro simple shrugged as he said "It's fine sis, I'm just gonna first teach him a bit about respecting his elders. They won't whine too much."

Naruto and co then confronted them as Kankuro held up Konohamaru.

Naruto yelled at the duo, well mainly at Kankuro "Hey, put him down!"

Kankuro looked over at the blond before he said "Hey, just give me a sec here."

"Kankuro, pay attention." she said to try and get Kankuro to stand down.

Kankuro then noticed that Naruto, Sakura, and also Haku who had been following the previous chase, were all wearing a Konoha headband.

"Oh, so you guys are genins from around here." Kankuro said with a bit of a shrug.

Sakura stared at the two dead in the eyes after noticing the duo's own headbands. It depicted an hourglass.

"And you two are from Sand. What are you doing here anyways?" Sakura said in response.

Temari replied "Oh you didn't hear, the chunin exams are soon...speaking of, Kankuro, stop making a scene darnit!"

Kankuro started to say "Oh come on, at least let me give him a-"

However, he stopped when he noticed that Naruto was no longer at his previous location, but instead right behind him, with a kunai hung in front of his neck.

"I said, put the Hokage's grandson, DOWN." Naruto said in a demanding tone. On the inside he really had to thank his dad and Kyuubi for teaching him how to affect his surroundings just by merely changing his tone and demeanor.

Kankuro, in his shock, carefully put the child down onto his feet. Meanwhile Temari was both shocked at the blond's speed...and the fact that he basically just saved their butts from an international incident. That would have been a problem.

Naruto then put his kunai away before walking towards his teammates and Konohamaru's friends before he turned towards a nearby tree and said "Hey, you can come out now. I know you're there."

At that point, a boy with short red hair, pale blue eyes, and black lining around his eyes, that wore a set of ninja light ninja gear that included a lot of netting, and a large gourd on his back sand shunshined onto the street in between the Konoha and Suna ninja.

"G-Gaara…" Kankuro muttered with a bit of fear in his eyes.

Gaara started at Kankuro with emotionless eyes as he said "You're a disgrace Kankuro. You let yourself be carried away just from a bit of dirt on your clothes. Next time though, I'll kill you."

"Ugh!"

Gaara turned towards Temari as he then added on "And Temari, you need to control Kankuro better."

"I-I'm sorry Gaara." The blonde said to the redhead.

At this point Naruto asked Gaara "Who are you?"

Gaara looked at the Uzumaki with his expressionless face before he said "I am Gaara of the Sand...and yours?"

"Naruto Uzumaki."

Gaara looked away for a moment as he said "I will remember that name...I hope you come to the Chunin exams...to fight you would help prove my existence…"

The other two sand nin seemed very frightened at the mark before Gaara then made his way past him and towards where the Suna ninja were staying, causing them to both leave as well.

Naruto let out a sigh before he remarked "...well that happened."

Haku nodded in agreement, happy the tense situation was over for the time being.

Sakura bent down towards Konohamaru as she apologized for causing them to get in that situation. Meanwhile, Naruto was having his own thoughts.

_The weird thing though, was the redhead smelled a lot like a...tanuki? And blood, lots of blood._

"_To be fair...that was probably the Jinchurikki of the one tail beast Shukaku, who is very, very well known for being quite insane. And I mean the murder kind of insane." _the Kyuubi spoke to him. Naruto had already gone over a bit about each of the bijus at one point of their training.

Naruto's response to this was...

"Oh...fuck."

* * *

_The next day, Konohagakure, Land of Fire_

The group was at one of the many bridges in the village waiting for Kakashi to show up. Unlike before, he asked them to meet here today rather than the training grounds.

And of course before they could even talk much, especially Naruto since he still had Shukaku's Jinchuuriki on his mind, Kakashi once again arrived on time. Though after a month of this, everyone was used to it now rather than wondering if the world was going to end before long.

"Hello my students, today I have a bit of a proposition for you" Kakashi said with his eye smile.

Sasuke looked at Kakashi and asked "And that would be?"

Kakashi then pulled out 4 sheets of paperwork that were some type of form as he said "I recommended you four to the chunin exam!"

While normally Naruto would have been jumping for joy at this, he also realized that the moment he stepped into the exam, he would likely have to face Gaara at some point.

He then shrugged it off deciding that as a fellow Jinchuriki he could take him on, and who knows, maybe become friends. Naruto returned to his normal, happy-go-lucky mood as he took one of the forms from his sensei as he said "Thank you Sensei!"

Sasuke thought it would be a good place to figure out where he stood amongst their generation of ninja. Though he also thought it may also be an opportunity to reveal 'that' secret.

Haku looked at the form, thinking that things would be interesting, and if Naruto was going, she would as well. Besides, it would also allow her to be a step closer to Zabuza's level.

Meanwhile Sakura stared at the form with a determined look on her face before she asked "Is this why you tossed me over to Gai?"

Kakashi simply gave her a nod before she said "Then I'm going, if I had to go through all that crap just to skip out on what it was for, I'd be very annoyed with myself…"

Kakashi couldn't help but eye smile once more, his students were all growing up so well!

"Alright then, go to the Academy tomorrow then at the specified time. From there, all I can do is wish you luck." he said as he then made his leave. He was originally going to say something so none of them would be peer pressured into entering the exams. But all of them seemed eager, so he simply took the lazy route and let that be.

Though however, Naruto, as well as Minato and the Kyuubi, couldn't help but shake one feeling.

That the calm they had at the moment, was going to be replaced with the storm before long.

* * *

**Naruto: Oh boy, this is gonna be hectic**

**Sasuke: Considering how the chunin exams are in the canon, probably**

**Haku: Well at least unlike canon Zabuza and I are still around...also where's Sakura?**

**Sakura: ...just why WVH? Why?**

**WVH: I think she broke again.**

**Kakashi: Mah mah, its not that much of a problem...is it?**

**WVH: Also before the viewers ask, yes I am kinda speeding up the time between Kakashi handing out the forms and the start of the exam. **

**Naruto: Also, I'm kinda looking forward to bringing the rest of the gang into the story! We'll be with them when we go in!**

**Shikamaru: I have to make an appearance? What a drag...**

**Ino: Everything is a drag to you -.-**

**Choji: That's Shikamaru for you!**

**Hinata: I'm just happy it will g-give me some time near N-Naruto k-kun**

**Kiba: And I better kick some ass! YAHOOO!**

**Shino: ...he's not going to, is he WVH?**

**WVH: I see you are catching onto my ways. In any case, be sure to R&R, as well as come back next time everyone!**

**Kiba: Yeah! Let's do th-wait did you insu-**


	6. Chapter 6: Something Reeks

**Took a bit of time, but here is Chapter 6! Just a heads up though, its a bit of a long chapter...though if anything you can blame Kabuto and his long ass explanations/descriptions. Also, for those wondering the pairings, first obviously, is Harem, and no, I'm not going to tell you all of the girls yet...though I will at least say I will likely have Hinata and Haku in it. Just wait for now though for who else will be included. Now, we got the team entering the chunin exams. Let's see how they interact with their colleagues, as well as get past the Written Exam. But first...**

**DISCLAIMER: I will say this every time if I have to...I DO NOT OWN Naruto, its characters, locations, techniques, or any part of the franchise. Those belong to ****Masashi Kishimoto, Shueisha, Viz Media, TV Tokyo Co., and Shonen Jump, and other content creators. I do own the story itself and any techniques I come up with for characters to use. Now that you understand this, enjoy the chapter!**

* * *

Chapter 6: Something Reeks

_In Front of the Konoha Ninja Academy, Konohagakure, Land of Fire_

The next day, the team of four found themselves standing in front of the Academy, where within, the Chunin Exams awaited them.

Haku asked "So, are you ready?"

Naruto, and Sakura as well, pumped their fists with a grin as they responded "Heck YEAH! We're gonna win this!" ...though Naruto also added a "DATTEBAYO!" at the end.

Sasuke merely nodded with a 'hnn', as well as a smirk on his face.

Haku simply nodded, happy the rest of her team were in high spirits. The group then walked in and headed up the stairs.

As they walked up the stairs, they saw a large line of people headed towards a door that was being guarded by two other 'genins'.

"Why won't you let us in!? We're here for the Chunin Exams!" one voice spoke. Sakura facepalmed for a moment as she recognized that voice a bit too well.

One of the genin at the door sneered as he said "We can't let you weaklings get in the exam, it isn't a place for chumps, go home brat."

At this point, Sakura was about to tell them they should just go up to the next floor since this was actually just the second floor under a genjutsu, but then the source of the voice, Might Gai's student, Rock Lee, noticed her.

"OH HEY! SAKURA-CHAN!"

He then dashed over to where she was, no longer pretending to be injured from the 'genins', who did widen their eyes for a moment as they realized they got played a little, but they ignored it for the time being.

Sakura couldn't help but let out a sigh, before she spoke "Hi Lee…"

Lee let out one of his cheesy smiles, which ended up making the rest of Team 7 a bit...weirded out, before he said "So you're here for the Chunin Exams right!? That's excellent! We can both show our power of youth! And love if you will accept it!"

Sakura shot him down instantly though with a "Yes I'm here for the Chunin Exams, and for the LAST TIME LEE, NO MEANS NO!"

Lee looked a bit downcast before his two other teammates, a boy with long brown hair and pale eyes like Hinata's, and Tenten, joined the group.

Tenten grabbed Lee as she said "Lee, I know you like her, but you really should give up at this point. She's already shot you down more than 50 times. Also hi Sakura!"

While Sakura ended up having a short chat with Tenten, Naruto went over to Lee as he asked "You also get rejected by Sakura a lot?"

Lee said to him "Sadly, yes, but I will not falter!"

Naruto gave the green spandex boy a nod, before he then put a hand on Lee's shoulder as he said "I understand you very well in that regard. Maybe someday she'll actually accept someone other than the edgelord. Believe it!"

At this point, the two ended up making a strange bond of sorts, which Sakura didn't notice, Sasuke simply decided to ignore, and Haku couldn't help it as a giggle escaped from her mouth.

Meanwhile Neji looked at Sasuke before he called to him.

"Sasuke Uchiha."

Sasuke looked at him and asked "And you are?"

"Neji Hyuuga. I hear you were the top of your class, as was I. I hope to see just what you can do...though I will show you just who's doujutsu is superior." Neji answered him.

Sasuke simply gave him a quick 'hnn'. Neji smirked a bit. He then walked towards the stairs, his two teammates trailing along with him.

Sakura then said "Well, guess we should head up too then?"

The team nodded in agreement, just as they were about to head up the stairs though...Naruto decided to ruin the 'genins'' fun.

"HEY GUYS BY THE WAY THIS IS ACTUALLY THE SECOND FLOOR! ALSO THOSE TWO AREN'T GENINS! BYE NOW!"

Everyone who had been fooled by the genjutsu had their eyes widen before they all realized they had been played. And were now rushing towards the stairs.

And the two 'genins' who had been exposed undid their transformations and were going to chase after Naruto.

But by that time, he was gone.

* * *

_Upstairs_

Sakura deadpanned at the blond ninja before she asked "Did you really have to do that?"

"It was worth it. I regret nothing!" Naruto replied with a foxy grin.

Haku gave him a thumbs up as she enjoyed it as well.

Sasuke added "...okay it was kind of funny."

Sakura couldn't help but nod at the least to Sasuke's statement about it.

The group then walked down the hall to the door they were supposed to enter, finding not only their sensei, but Lee's team as well as their sensei.

While originally everyone other than Sakura would have made some reaction about Might Gai's eyebrows…

They were too distracted by the fact the TRUE ultimate genjutsu was occurring before their eyes.

Gai and Lee were having a master/student moment where they were crying and hugging each other, with a cliff overlooking the ocean with a sunset was occuring behind them.

Haku was questioning reality, Sasuke was constantly trying to dispel the nightmare-like genjutsu, meanwhile Naruto in his curiosity, grabbed one of the rocks from the cliffside and then tossed it, and as a result it went into the water below.

_What kind of sick genjutsu is this!? _Naruto couldn't help but think.

The Kyuubi cried out "_TURN IT OFF! I DON'T WANT THIS BURNED INTO MY MEMORY!"_

Minato meanwhile shrugged as he shook his head. He had seen it enough times already between Might Gai and Gai's father. It was too late for him.

Meanwhile Sakura walked over to them before bopping them both on the head as she yelled "CAN'T YOU NOT MENTALLY SCAR US WITH THAT DAMMIT!?"

The fact that from what Kakashi could tell that punch actually hurt Gai, he sweatdropped a bit. Though he had to admit he was impressed that Sakura could actually ignore the effects of the nightmare fuel and disable it. But then again, she tended to play straight man, er woman, a lot to Naruto's hijinks.

Tenten gave Sakura a thumbs up, as she was the one who taught her how to do that, and Neji meanwhile, grabbed Lee and then went into the exam room, with Tenten following after.

Kakashi eye smiled as he looked at the group and said, "Well, that was interesting, and I'm glad you all made it here! Just remember to work as a team, and I'm sure you'll do fine!"

After that, the team then went into the doors, leaving the two senseis alone for the moment.

"...how hard did she hit you by the way?"

Gai stopped holding the bump on his head. He then replied "Well...about as hard as Kushina in her prime."

Kakashi couldn't help but shiver at the thought. If she could hit as hard as Kushina, the second most physically strong female ninja he had known, he was terrified at what level she might get to later on.

* * *

_In the room for the Chunin Exams_

As the group of four entered the room they were met with the stares of the many other participants. Some were curious, some were annoyed more brats showed up, others didn't really give much of a crap, and more.

Of course, the group didn't seem too bothered by it. Even Sakura, who originally was a weak link in the team, didn't seem perturbed too much.

"Quite a decent amount of people." Haku said as she started to gauge some of the other participants.

Sakura responded to her "Well, based on those Suna Shinobi yesterday, there's probably a good amount of people from other villages."

Naruto in his usual attitude towards life simply said "Then all we gotta do is prove we're the best!"

Sasuke was about to do his usual 'hnn', but was then interrupted by what was to him, a very unwelcome hug.

"Hey Sasuke-kun! Did you miss me!?" the blonde who hugged him from behind said with a bit of flirting in her tone.

Sakura yelled at her "Hands off Ino-pig!"

Ino then looked towards the pinkette and said "But I don't want to Forehead, I like this."

While she was distracted, Sasuke got himself out of her hug, much to said blonde's disappointment when he did so.

At this point though her two teammates walked over, one of which spoke "Ino, stop being troublesome."

The one who spoke was Shikamaru Nara, a boy with short black hair with a single topknot in the back, who wore a short grey vest over a t-shirt and netting with a similar pair of shorts. He, like much of his clan, was known to be a genius, but also like his clan, he was quite lazy.

Ino then retorted "And how about you stop being lazy?"

Shikamaru simply replied "Too troublesome to do so."

Meanwhile Ino's other teammate went over to Naruto and asked "Hi Naruto, been well?"

This person was Choji Akamichi, he was a...big-boned boy with a hat of sorts on his head so that his light brown hair went up through the two openings. He tended to wear a green coat over his shirt that had the character for 'meat' on it. While he had what some would call a black hole for a stomach, he was also quite a kind kid...as long as you didn't call him fat.

Naruto let a smile come to his face as he greeted "As always Choji. Also hi Shikamaru!" to which Shikamaru simply replied with a nod...he was too lazy to come up with an actual response.

He was on decent terms with these two out of his classmates from the Academy. The two boys were some of the very, VERY few kids Naruto hung out with when he was younger. They had good times indeed one could say. Lots of getting into trouble, and sometimes one or both of them ended up being pulled into Naruto's pranks.

Shikamaru then noticed their team of four before he said "You know, I heard you guys got an extra member, but I never got the chance to meet them...but then again, that would be troublesome."

Naruto simply shrugged as he told Haku "Okay basically the lazy guy is Shikamaru, he's smart, but also too lazy to use it more often than not. That one is Choji, he's a nice guy and can pack a decent punch, just don't call him the f-word. And lastly the blonde there is Ino, another Sasuke fangirl who is also the rumor mill."

Ino couldn't help to retort "I'm not the rumor mill!"

Shikamaru couldn't help but sarcastically add "Sure you aren't."

With a short glare from Ino, Shikamaru simply sighed "What a drag."

At this point the other team from their year came over to join them, which started with one of them saying "Hey hey! Looks like the gang's all here!"

This boy was Kiba Inuzuka, a member of a clan that worked closely with their ninja dogs (aka ninken). He had short brown hair and black eyes, with two triangle marks on his face that were shared amongst the clan. He worse a gray hoodie that had the hood and sleeves ending with a bit of brown fur. And on top of his head was his ninken partner, Akamaru. The dog was essentially a small puppy at this point in time, with rounded floppy ears. Though supposedly based on all the other ninken their clan used, he would become as big as a human if not more in due time. He also considered himself an alpha male...though everyone agreed that he wasn't.

The second member who joined the group was Hinata Hyuuga, in her tan jacket as she always was. Of course, she went over towards Naruto as she greeted him with a "H-hi Naruto-kun."

Naruto replied to her with a "Hey Hinata, how have you been?"

Hinata responded back to him with a "G-good." She had a blush and smile on her face as she was happy the boy, her crush, responded back to her. Of course he remained oblivious to her blushing as he said to Kiba "So, how have you been Kiba?"

Kiba looked at the blond boy as he smirked "Doin' well. How about you? Thinking of quitting yet Loser?"

"No way in hell dog breath."

Haku looked at the two of them before she asked their third teammate "Are they always like this?"

Said teammate was Shino Aburame, a boy with dark brown spiky hair who always wore sunglasses and a jacket that covered the lower half of his face. He tended to be a quiet individual, but let's just say…

Don't fuck with the guy who can instant summon a horde of chakra devouring insects.

"Yes. Naruto and Kiba have had a bit of a rivalry going for a while. Both of them are too stubborn to quit though." Shino answered her.

At this point Kiba noticed Haku, and of course, couldn't help his instincts as an 'alpha male'.

"Hey there hot stuff, what's your name?"

At this point, the group had several reactions. Sakura simply facepalmed, Sasuke let out a sigh, and Naruto...Naruto actually felt a little annoyed. He couldn't guess the exact reason other than maybe it was because Haku was his friend.

Elsewhere in Konoha, Zabuza couldn't help but feel annoyed about something, like more so than when Naruto and Haku were together with each other. He decided he would figure out why later though. But if someone was hitting on Haku...he probably would have to, and a quote, cut a bitch.

Haku however simply responded with a "My name is Haku. Also, hit on me like that again, and I will use my senbon on you...and trust me, you don't"

To that, Kiba quickly backed away with a yelp, much to the amusement of the rest of the group. Haku had already gotten annoyed with some of the civilians hitting on her before. And let's just say...if Zabuza didn't get to them first, they'd be riddled with a few senbon so that they would be paralyzed for an hour or so...plus maybe doing a bit of a prank while she was at it.

However, the group's merriment was cut short by a grey haired teenager. He said to them "Hey, how about you kids quiet down, this isn't some sort of field trip here."

The grey haired teenager walked over to the them. He had his hair done with a tail in the back, and wore black rimmed glasses on his face, and a black uniform of sorts on his body.

However, Naruto was interested in something else that he noticed was unusual.

_Is it just me, or does something reek about him? Like I don't know...a snake? Yeah, probably snakes._

This happened to spring alarms in both Minato and the Kyuubi, considering they knew only a few people connected to snakes, one in particular was quite a problem. However, both the fox and ex-Hokage agreed to wait on it at the moment. They didn't want to jump to conclusions just yet.

Naruto asked the teenager "Who are you?"

"I'm Kabuto Yakushi, I'm here for the chunin exams just like you all...though this is my seventh attempt."

Kiba couldn't help but reply "Wow you must suck then."

Kabuto shrugged before he said "More like my luck is bad. But as a result, I know a decent amount about the exams. Plus I've also been using the exams as practice for my info gathering skills."

Shikamaru simply nodded as he spoke "Yeah, that makes sense. Might as well make what you can from it. What can you tell us though?"

Kabuto used his hand to push up his glasses before he explained "Well for starters, the exams tend to be separated into three parts, though what occurs in the parts tends to change every time. The only real constant is at the third and final part is that the remaining participants fight in front of those from other nations as well as their own."

Naruto was excited at the idea of fighting in a sort of tournament to show how awesome he was, along with Kiba. Sasuke thought it was interesting, but didn't really show it. Shikamaru simply nodded as he waited for Kabuto to continue.

"As for my info gathering skills, I've determined the amount of applicants that have entered from each nation. While the majority is from Konoha, there's a few from Suna, and others from some of the surrounding smaller countries. Earth and Lightning obviously wouldn't show up. And not many people really know what's going on in Mizu right now since they've been closed off." Kabuto explained further.

He then pulled out a deck of cards as he then spoke "And lastly, these are my pride and joy, my ninja info cards. I've managed to compile the data on a majority of the genins here. Though if some things are missing, don't be surprised."

This seemed to pique the interest of Naruto, Sasuke, Kiba, and Shikamaru. The first three had some people in mind they wanted info on. Meanwhile the latter was interested in what kind of info he had.

The first to ask was Sasuke.

"What can you tell me about Neji Hyuuga and his team?"

Kabuto in response laid out three cards before charging chakra into them. The cards then showed the group the info Kabuto had gathered. It showed a portrait of them, who their sensei was, their attributes in the ninja arts, a bit of text, and lastly, most important to at least two people there, the number and rank of missions they've been on.

While Shikamaru simply just thought of it as him maybe knowing some of the chunin who did the mission requests, Minato was somewhat alarmed. It meant this boy had very, very good information gathering skills. But more importantly, he had to know at least one thing in particular. If he was right, he planned to warn Naruto and co about just what might be coming for them.

Meanwhile Kabuto began his explanations.

"Neji Hyuuga is a member of the Branch Family of the Hyuuga Clan. His team consists of Rock Lee and Tenten, with Might Gai as their sensei. Mission wise, he and his team have done the usual D's, with a few C's and one or two B rank missions, though I wouldn't be surprised since they decided to wait a year before entering the exams. He tends to specialize in his clan's taijutsu which focuses on immobilizing their opponent as well as dealing internal damage. Lastly, he was the top shinobi of his class. So he might be a decent challenge."

"Next we have Tenten. Not from a clan, but fairly decent. From what I can tell she's a weapon specialist, but not anything worth extreme mention in comparison to her teammates. Though the fact she's been with Might Gai for a year does say some things considering how enthusiastic he is about training."

Sakura couldn't help but shudder at the last remark, she knew quite well what he meant.

Kabuto then continued.

"And lastly we have Rock Lee. He relies entirely on taijutsu due to an issue with his chakra coils. However, it can be noted his taijutsu skills are within the chunin level or higher. So if you ever have to fight him, my recommendation is Genjutsu."

After that Sasuke simply let out a 'hnn' as he then let the next person go...which was Kiba.

"What can you tell me about Haku from Konoha?"

This caused the rest of the group to let out a sweatdrop. He was clearly still showing his attraction to her. But they all knew she would likely never return it after she threatened him earlier.

Kabuto shrugged as he put away the previous three cards and pulled out another one that he then put his chakra into.

"Let's see here, Haku is a member of Team 7 who joined a month ago, and her teammates are Naruto Uzumaki, Sasuke Uchiha, and Sakura Haruno. I will say 4 member teams are a bit rare, but based on their mission record, I'd say it works. As a team they've done the usual D missions with some C rank ones. However, here's where things get interesting, she originally came here with Team 7 and Zabuza Momochi, the Demon of the Hidden Mist. From what I know, both have joined the village, though I don't know where Zabuza is at the moment. Also, she seems to have a Kenkai Genkai that lets her use Ice Style. Quite impressive."

Kiba couldn't help but gawk at the info. Not only did said girl have a bloodline, but she also had connections to one of the most infamous shinobi from Mist. He could already imagine what Zabuza would do to him if he got fresh with Haku.

And thus, Kiba decided to give up on trying to woo Haku.

Before Naruto could ask Kabuto, he heard Minato tell him "_Naruto, other than whoever you ask to ask about, ask about yourself. Say you just want to see how you stack up. Something seems a bit fishy here."_

After listening to his father's advice, he asked Kabuto "Gaara of the Sand and his team...and myself."

Kabuto gave him a smirk "Narcissist much?"

Naruto shot right back as his father recommended "Just want to see how I stack up."

Kabuto gave him a shrug before he replied "Fair enough."

He then pulled out another 4 cards before he went into his explanations.

"Gaara of the Desert, the son of the current Kazekage. His teammates are Temari and Kankuro, who happen to be his siblings, and his sensei is Baki. He's got a pretty good mission record of only a few Ds, a lot of Cs, and even a few Bs. While I don't have too much info though, supposedly he's never gotten a single scratch when on mission."

"Next we have Temari. From what I know she tends to use wind style jutsu in tandem to the fan she has on her back. Not much else I can note otherwise."

"And here we have Kankuro, I unfortunately don't have too much info on him either, other than he carries this one bandaged thing on his back...and the fact he wears face paint."

"I say its makeup" Naruto noted as a joke. It managed to cause some of the others to stifle a laugh. And further in Temari overheard it and also couldn't help but stifle a laugh as well, much to her brother Kankuro's confusion.

"To each their own I suppose, now then…Finally we have Naruto Uzumaki, the deadlast of the latest set of genin from Konoha. His teammates are Sasuke Uchiha and Sakura Haruno. From what's known, his favorite jutsu is the shadow clone jutsu and he hates the normal clone jutsu...that makes sense considering chakra control I guess. And his mission record is...the usual Ds, some Cs, one B...and one A that originally started as a C rank. Wow, don't know how you survived that one."

The rest of the group, excluding his teammates, were all a bit shocked. Naruto had an A class mission under his belt and survived it? A few of them, mainly Ino and Kiba, for a moment couldn't help but consider revising their opinion on the boy.

On the other hand, Naruto was having a bit of a chuckle on the outside...but on the inside…

_OH FUCK! HOW DOES HE KNOW ABOUT THAT B-RANK? THE OLD MAN SAID WHAT HAPPENED WITH MIZUKI WAS SUPPOSED TO BE KEPT UNDER WRAPS! WHAT THE HELL!?_

Essentially due to what happened with Mizuki, the Third Hokage decided to count it as a B-Rank mission for Naruto since he did essentially beat up a rogue chunin. Though of course it was also classified due to the information of the Kyuubi being leaked to Naruto. Plus it gave the boy a bit of money as a sort of pseudo graduation present. But anyways...

Minato calmed the boy as he said "_Calm down Naruto. Good news is there's nothing about your more recent things in here, so it's not like he and whoever he's working with know about your transformation and new abilities. However, if he's working for who I think he's working for, it's best to not trust him, alright?"_

"_Even if he wasn't working for that snake, I wouldn't trust this guy further than I can toss him. And I have a really good throwing arm." _the Kyuubi added on.

This managed to calm Naruto down for the moment. However, four people managed to notice Naruto's chuckle was fake.

Shikamaru was the first one since he also sometimes did so. He was curious as to why the most extroverted person he knew did so, but he decided it would be a drag to try and find out.

Haku and Sakura noticed this as well, though they also couldn't put a finger on why he did so. Both of them in their minds decided they would ask him about it later.

Meanwhile Sasuke instantly caught why Naruto was panicking. He knew the team had never been on a B rank mission, especially since the disaster that was the mission in the Land of Waves. He guessed that whatever it was, it was something people were not supposed to know about. He like his two female teammates also decided he would ask Naruto about it later.

Meanwhile Kabuto decided to put away his cards and spoke.

"In any case, if there's anyone else you guys need a bit of info on, I can show you. However, one of the new, smaller villages, Sound, I haven't gotten much info on their ninja. Though for all we know, they could either be strong, or just small time"

As if on cue (hint hint), one of said Ninja from Sound decided to make their move, he was wearing a grey jacket lined with fur, and had his head covered in bandages save for his eyes and Sound headband. He rushed towards Kabuto, his footsteps alarming both him and the Rookie 9.

"Small time? I'll show you small time!" the Sound nin yelled as he made a hook punch as Kabuto. Kabuto managed to dodge in time though as he moved away from the Sound nin, the punch barely missing his face. However, a moment afterwards Kabuto's glasses then broke, and eyes bulged and he kneeled on the floor, his last meal coming up in the process.

"What the!?...also ugh." Naruto said as he then pinched his nose shut, and Kiba did the same. It was at times like these heightened senses only made things worse.

"Small time that, glasses." the Sound nin said as he stood up normally.

Naruto finally had enough as he yelled "What was that for bastard!?"

The Sound nin looked at Naruto as he said "One, its Dosu, not bastard, second, someone had to teach the rat some manners."

While Naruto was considering attacking him, he also noticed something else. Much like Kabuto, this guy also smelled of snakes.

At this point the Kyuubi couldn't help but say "_Okay, once is coincidence, twice is suspicious, especially if this is a new nation. And me and Minato both know there's one rogue ninja who uses snakes."_

Naruto couldn't help but mentally ask them _And that would be?_

However, his question went unanswered as a cloud of smoke appeared at one of the sets of doors, with a voice that yelled "Alright that's enough! Any more fighting from here on unless you are required to do so is forbidden!"

From the smoke appeared a set of Konoha ninja, made up of chunins and jonins, led by a man who wore a black coat and a bandana, and had a face riddled with scars.

At this point, the Sound nin sighed as he backed away, but gave the rookie 9 and Kabuto a glare that implied 'it's not over' before he went back towards where his team was.

The man continued "My name is Ibiki Morino, I will be the proctor of the First Section of the exam. Please come here to take a number from the lot, and then enter the next room. From there, sit at the seat that matches with said number"

Everyone nodded as they followed his instructions, though Naruto couldn't help but have a bad feeling as to what was going to happen next. Though he was at least mildly satisfied that one of the people he was kinda friendly with, Hinata, was sitting next to him. He also couldn't help but notice that he could actually hear her heartbeat, but he just assumed it was because she was as nervous as he was.

Ibiki then pulled out a stack of papers as he then explained the test and its rules.

It was a paper test.

_I'M SCREWED!_ Naruto thought.

Meanwhile both Minato and Kyuubi sweatdropped as they couldn't help but think back to Kushina, who had a similar reaction back when she had her own run in the Chunin Exams.

Before long the test was handed out and they were ordered to begin. Of course, Naruto was in panic on the inside with Minato getting him to stop after a little bit.

Meanwhile, both Haku and Sasuke as they heard the rules realized they were supposed to cheat without getting caught, and Sakura due to her studies already knew the answers and just simply worked on her sheet.

Haku managed to get one of her ice mirrors to appear out of everyone's notice as she used its reflection to get the answers. Sasuke was using his Sharingan to copy off people he thought were doing well, though he felt he really hit home on his first target.

As for Naruto.

_Wait wait wait, we're supposed to cheat?_

Kyuubi growled at him "_Duh. Everyone else is doing it already, have you not noticed?"_

At this point, Naruto used his senses on the area around him and noticed that everyone was using all sorts of forms to cheat. Be it jutsus, well placed mirrors, and even a floating sand eyeball.

Naruto then asked _Hey dad can I-_

"_No, I'm not giving you the answers. Just think out of the box."_ Minato answered him.

Naruto inwardly swore, before an idea came to his mind.

He then carefully pulled one of his hands down to one of his pockets and grabbed a small smoke bomb from it.

_Well here goes….YEEEET!_

He then tossed it from under his desk, past where Hinata sat, and a few more seats over until it landed under the desk of one of the participants, blowing up into a cloud of smoke. As a result it clouded the entire front row and some of the row behind them.

"Okay, who's the wise guy!?" Ikibi yelled, though on the inside he thought it was a fair play since he couldn't tell which of them threw it.

Meanwhile within the smoke, Naruto quickly summoned a shadow clone and had it transform into the smallest thing he could do.

A fly.

Minato smiled as he said "_Yeah that's outside of the box."_

Meanwhile the Kyuubi thought it would be hilarious if someone swatted the transformed clone down.

As the smoke settled, all it revealed was all the participants at their seats. And so, everyone was none the wiser as a fly flew up to the ceiling.

Ibiki then barked "Alright, I don't know which one of you did that, but if it happens again, I'm deducting points from all of you in the front row."

All of them couldn't help but pale a little before they went back to their tests. Though Naruto knew he probably wouldn't need to do so again.

Sasuke caught on to what Naruto did due to his sharingan and mentally admitted that it was a solid plan.

The two Hyuugas in the test noticed as well. Hinata was impressed at how Naruto came up with such an idea. She was a bit worried that she would have to help him cheat by showing him her answers. Meanwhile Neji thought while the idea was dumb, it worked, so he had to give him some points in that regard.

Meanwhile Haku and Sakura had a feeling it was Naruto who did it, especially when a fly landed near Sakura's paper and did what looked like a wave at her. She simply rolled her eyes at that and let the clone take a look at her answers before it flew away and dispelled itself somewhere...though not before it went to troll some poor shop owner that wouldn't sell to Naruto due to him being a 'demon'.

With that its memories were sent to the original Naruto, who had held back a laugh at the memory of a shopkeeper desperately trying to swat him as the clone kept landing all over the man's body, which also caused said shopkeeper to hit themselves in the balls three times, proceeded to write in the answers he got from Sakura. He also quickly wrote something on the back of the paper before he flipped it back up.

Just as he did so, Ibiki barked "Alright, its time for the tenth question!."

Okay screw it, this is taking too long. I'm just going to say everything went as it did in canon, from where Ibiki explained the rules, some of the people deciding to quit, and Naruto making his statement so that Hinata didn't quit out of fear. Yada Yada Yada. Okay, back to actually writing the story.

As a result of Naruto's little speech, no one else left the room, causing Ibiki to smile as he said "Well then, congratulations. Everyone here has passed the first exam!"

"...EEEHHHH!?"

* * *

**Sakura: Well, that was a longer one.**

**Haku: It was...just don't make us look at that genjutsu again.**

**WVH: No promises**

**Naruto: I guess next chapter we'll be dealing with Orochi-Pedo?**

**Sasuke: Probably**

**Orochi-Pedo: HEY! I AM NOT A PEDO! STOP INSINUATING THIS WVH!**

**Kyuubi: Okay, how many brats have you used for your body snatching jutsus and experiments?**

**Orochi-Pedo: ...this isn't over**

**Kyuubi: Suuurree, whatever you say Orochi-Pedo.**

**Minato: Well, I hope you all enjoyed the chapter everyone! Be sure to R&R, as well as come back for next chapter! Now if you excuse me...I need to keep Kyuubi from goading Orochimaru into a battle he can't win...**

**Naruto: KICK HIS ALBINO ASS!**

**WVH: ...he's not wrong...**


	7. Chapter 7: From 0 to 100

**And I'm back to bring you all another wonderful chapter! Also, before any of you bellyache the whole, Harem thing, a few notes.**

**One, I'm not going to be throwing the story to the side for the fluff or whatnot. It's mainly there for comedic purposes, not to take over the main plot. And for you fight hungry fans, we're barely into the Chunin Exams, so trust me, you'll get your fill of fights as the story progresses.**

**And two, since Christmas Eve is coming up tomorrow and I have Tuesday and Wednesday off, I'll be working my butt off to get you guys more chapters of this, plus Magician II and maybe if I feel like it, that SAO story I mentioned on my profile.**

**Okay, now that's out of the way...yes, I need to do it again since I want to avoid the copyright Nazis getting on my ass...**

**DISCLAIMER: As I have said before, and will say as many times as it takes, I do NOT own Naruto, its characters, locations, or any of the franchise. That stuff belongs to Masashi Kishimoto, Shueisha, Viz Media, TV Tokyo Co., and Shonen Jump, and other people who have some ownership of said franchise. On the other hand, I do own the story and the techniques I come up with. There! Now onto the chapter!**

* * *

Chapter 7: From 0 to 100

After Ibiki's remark that the remaining people in the room had passed the exam, as well as the group's reaction, save for a few such as Gaara, Ibiki let out a grin as he explained the purpose of the exam to them.

"For the first nine questions, we set up the rules to force you to cheat in order to test your skills in gathering information discreetly. A ninja needs to be able to be skilled in gathering such info from their enemies for their nations at times. Though The one with the smoke bomb...I'll give you credit that rather than discretion, you went for distraction, so nice one. Just don't think it'll work every time."

Naruto fought the urge to scratch the back of his head at that remark.

Then Temari asked "Then what about the last question? What was the point of that?"

Ibiki then gave his answer.

"That was the most important part of the test. Say your given a mission that will likely put your lives on the line and if it succeeds, will greatly help your village, but you have the choice whether to accept or reject it. Obviously a true Chunin would take it, despite the risks, in order to support their village."

He then took his bandana off, showing the scars that ran all over it from numerous types of torture. He then put his bandana back on.

"One of the things Lord Third has said is a Shinobi is one who endures. They have to in order to not only accomplish their mission, but make sure their comrades get back in one piece. And that, is what I leave to you all as the First Exam Proctor."

He was about to conclude the first part, but out of the corner of his eye he could see the black ball flying towards the windows from outside.

Naruto noticed it as well from the noise it made before he said "What the fuck i-"

He didn't get to finish as the ball broke through the window, and as it made it to the middle of the room, it unfurled into a banner as kunai stuck the edges of it to the ceiling and floor, and from it, a purple haired kunoichi wearing a tan jacket, netting, and a short skirt that left very little to the imagination landed in the middle of the room.

"Alright brats! I'm Anko Mitarashi, the Second Exam Proctor!" she yelled.

In response to her actions, the majority of the people had three reactions.

One, they were blinking as they tried to process the information. Two, they were being perverts as they saw the little amount of clothes she wore. And three, they were having asking themselves what the hell is going on.

However, some responded differently. Well, at least three of them.

Gaara didn't really care...however…

Naruto and Haku both thought _That was actually kinda cool. Bad timing though...but I should ask her how to do that, I can think of a few pranks with that!_

After said thought though, Naruto noticed that Anko too smelled of snakes, though in comparison it was different from the musty smell from Kabuto and the Sound Nins.

"_To be fair, she is Orochimaru's student. Both of them use snake summons. Though unlike Orochimaru, Anko isn't like that man…" _Minato said to satisfy Naruto's curiosity.

The Kyuubi also added to that "_He means she isn't a psycho bent on immortality and not a pedophile."_

Minato looked at the Kyuubi for a moment with a stare.

"_What? I'm not wrong."_

Naruto then responded _True enough, hence why we left that warning...though knowing our team's luck, we'll end up having to confront him probably._

Minato wanted to deny that, but then again, Team 7's first C rank mission turned from a simple escort into an A rank job to save an entire country.

The Kyuubi simply shrugged, before it said "_How about we pay attention to the proctor for now."_

Naruto simply nodded as he focused back on the outside world. He even happened to get back just in time.

"Well, I'll be cutting their numbers down in half. Alright all of you, the First Part is over! For those continuing, you're to be at the entrance to Training Ground 44 in less than an hour. I'll see you there...So get moving!"

And as the proctor then jumped out the window, the rest of the remaining participants, including the Rookie 9, Team Gai, The Sand nin, and so on, left the room.

Ibiki watched the last of them go as he then went to start collecting the test papers. They would be used in order to help evaluate the participants who managed to get to the third part, though said participants didn't need to know that.

However, as he picked up Naruto's paper, he noticed an arrow on the side that implied for him to check the back. As he flipped it over, it read as such.

_Kabuto and the Sound nin suspicious. Smells like THAT snake._

Ibiki's eyes went wide as he then ordered one of the nearby anbu to quickly take the note to Lord Third. As head of the Torture and Interrogation Corps, he had been one of the few notified about Naruto's...problem, but he didn't mind. Heck, he found how it happened quite entertaining. So he chose to trust the boy on the smell part.

He sighed as what became a fun bit of mentally trolling children for a day, turned into what could become a fiasco.

* * *

_Training Ground 44, Konohagakure, Land of Fire_

Meanwhile all the participants who passed the first part of the exam had arrived at the entrance to Training Ground 44. What they saw was a large forest surrounded by metal fencing. It was much different from the surrounding area in that the trees were much taller, and from within, the genins could hear the sounds of a variety of animals, which included a few roars from tigers.

Anko was standing in front of the fence with a smirk on her face as she said "Welcome to Training Ground 44 everyone, as some of us like to call it, the Forest of Death. Filled with all sorts of beasties that will eat you whole if you give them the chance."

With this, many of the genins, save for some, felt a bit worried. However the ones least affected were in fact Team 7. They had already been face to face with the infamous Nine Tailed Fox. When you met with one of the most dangerous beasts to walk the planet, things like this didn't really scare much.

Naruto even said "The Forest of Death? I'm not scared."

The Kyuubi commented "_That's because you have to deal with me...and that pink fleshbag that hits hard enough I swear she probably could go toe to toe in a fist fight with my previous jinchuuriki."_

"_Yeah, I can see that."_ Minato added to the Kyuubi's comment.

Anko decided to take this as a challenge so she in high speed shot a kunai at the boy, though he didn't even budge since he could tell where it was headed. The kunai went by his cheek, leaving a small cut, though he knew that it would heal before long.

However, he wasn't ready for what happened next. Anko shunshined behind him and licked where the cut was, freaking him out a little. The Kyuubi was laughing, and Minato was also a little surprised at what she did.

"You know, it's the kids like you who think they can do just about anything, that end up getting caught off guard, and spill all that rich, red, lovely, luscious blood." Anko said in his ear.

All the genin were a little disturbed...save for Gaara, who didn't really give a crap, and Kiba, who saw it as teasing and thought Naruto was a lucky bastard. Though of course, he probably would have pissed his pants if he was in Naruto's situation.

Then one of the other genins, a woman with a large straw hat, picked up the thrown kunai with her tongue and went to the proctor as she said "I believe this is yours?"

Anko gave her a quick "Oh yeah, Thanks." as she took the kunai and then shunshined back to the original spot she was in. She then collected herself from her little stunt and went on to explain the next part of the exam. The teams had two objectives. To retrieve a set of Earth and Heaven Scrolls, one which would be given to them at the start, from opposing teams. And the second, was to reach the tower in the middle of the training grounds. Also they were not to open the scrolls until they reached the inside of the tower.

Just as it seemed all the rules had been explained, she then added some extra rules.

"Lastly, as we do have a team of four here, they will be carrying a Man Scroll. As a result, they need that scroll as well as a set of Heaven and Earth Scrolls. Plus if they are unable to keep the Man Scroll, they will need two sets of scrolls in order to pass. Lastly, this is for the rest of you, the Man Scroll can be substituted for either of the Heaven or Earth Scrolls."

This made Sasuke smirk a bit at the idea of a challenge, Haku shrug since it was expected the proctor would make it harder for the team with a number advantage. Sakura was worried since now they had a giant target on their backs.

As for Naruto...he sweated a few bullets, both from the additional rules...and something else.

_...Kyuubi, did you smell that?_

"_...Yes, yes I did." _the Kyuubi replied.

_Dad, is that who I think it is?_

Minato said in a serious tone "_More than likely. I'd recommend staying away from them if you can."_

_...I'm really starting to think my luck is crap. _Naruto mentally grumbled.

It was a bit later at the gate, Naruto had his teammates gather around quickly so they could be warned about both Kabuto and the woman who REEKED to high hell of snakes...

All of them were of a general consensus on two, no three things.

One, they had to give the blond a bit more credit since even before he was a genin he beat up a chunin.

Two, Kabuto was likely the type of guy to lie through his teeth. Heck, Sasuke even let himself look a bit worried for a moment about what info the spy could have before he put back on his normal stoic face. Haku noticed it, but decided not to say anything about it for the time being.

And three...if they saw the straw hat-wearing kunoichi, to get the FUCK OUTTA DODGE. If it was who the ex-hokage thought it was, there was little chance of them getting out unscathed.

However, they didn't have much more time before the bell rung, so they decided to adopt a strategy of finding the two scrolls, get to the tower, and avoid the one ninja at all costs. Heck, they also made a password based off a poem in case of transformations or illusions. Of course though, Naruto couldn't remember it for the life of him.

After that, the bell then sounded and the group then made a beeline into the woods. Their formation was Sasuke in front, checking in front of them every now and then with Sharingan since he could see chakra, Sakura and Haku in the middle so that they could support the front or rear, and Naruto in the rear, since with his senses it wouldn't be easy to catch him off guard.

As they ran along the trees, Naruto yelled "Got one!" as he summoned a shadow clone that went back to the area behind them. The rest of the team jumped down onto the ground as they waited for the clone to pull their pursuer out into the open.

It was then the pursuer, a nin from Amegakure that wore white and a sort of gas mask, slammed down onto the ground, courtesy of the clone that Naruto summoned earlier. They had a feeling someone would follow them, so they simply set up a way to get things done and over with quickly.

The Rain nin got himself out of the ground, only to have his eyes widen as he was now in front of the group he was pursuing. He should have known better than to go scout on his own, but the idea of the man scroll had made him a bit greedy.

"So...are you going to hand over the scroll you have, or will we have to take it?" Sasuke said with a smirk.

The nin jumped back as he started making hand signs as he said "Yeah right you brats, I'll be taking that scroll from you!"

But just as he was about to finish his jutsu, he was punched in the gut by Naruto. Normally he would have done a bit of how awesome he was and all that, but with what could be the Snake Sannin around, Naruto decided there was no time for the usual theatrics, thus…

"Sorry, no time! Sakura, check him for the scroll!"

Sakura nodded as she checked the man's pockets and pouches, in one she found a scroll of earth.

Sasuke nodded as he said "Alright then, that's one. Now let's-"

But before they could continue, a strong gust of wind hit the group. While a majority of the group managed to stick to the ground, Naruto, who was the wind's direct target, was sent flying.

Of course, as he flew, he let out "FFFUUUUUUUUUUuuuu-"

"NARUTO!" Haku yelled as she saw him fly away and out of his vision.

The wind then died down. The group was about to go towards where he was, Naruto then came out from some of the brush, a bit disheveled, but he looked fine.

At this point though, Sasuke then asked Naruto "Naruto, what's the password?"

The blond in front of them then repeated the password perfectly. For a moment, Sakura breathed out a sigh of relief...but then Sasuke added on.

"Okay, turn off 'those' seals for a moment."

Naruto looked at him a bit confused as he said "...which seals again?"

Sasuke, as well as Haku, then sent a barrage of attacks at the blond, who ended up dodging all but one, which made his eyes widen as he noticed the explosive tag on it.

The tag then exploded, through 'Naruto' jumped out of the smoke, revealing rather than Naruto, it was actually the Grass kunoichi Naruto warned them about.

"...well...shit." Sasuke couldn't help but swear at the situation.

Sakura let sweat drop from her head as she prepared himself.

And Haku let out "Well...this day went from 0 to 100…"

The team just hoped Naruto was in a better situation than they were right now.

* * *

_With Naruto_

"-uuUUUUUUUCCK!" the boy yelled as he flew, finally being stopped as he hit a tree. He then fell to the forest floor. After a moment he got back up, with only a scratch here or there that healed a few moments later.

And while he was annoyed about what just happened, he was worried. Not only was that a powerful wind jutsu from what he could tell, but it also smelled of snakes. But just as he was about to get moving, he could hear, and feel something behind him.

He slowly turned around to come face to face with a giant snake, its yellow eyes looking at him.

Naruto couldn't help but let a few sweatdrops crawl down the back of his neck. He was pretty sure it could swallow him whole if it wanted to.

The snake then lunged towards him, mouth open, to which Naruto responded with…

"OH HELL NO! I AM NOT GETTING EATEN TODAY!" he said as he used one of his fox fire jutsus, a fox fire version of the fireball jutsu, straight at the snake's face.

As the snake saw the fire about to consume it whole, its last thoughts were.

_Orochimaru-sama said this was gonna be an easy job. Just eat the kid he sent my way and get a free meal out of it. He's totally weak...YEAH RIGHT!? HE didn't say anything about fire that hot!_

And so the snake screamed its death throes as the fireball burned its face to a crisp.

Naruto with heavy breathing proceeded to calm himself down. Meanwhile he could hear the Kyuubi laughing its ass off.

"_Oh my Kami that was priceless! The way your face looked as you panicked from that snake summon, PRICELESS!" _

"Hey! It caught me off guard okay!...also snake summon?" Naruto said to the fox, pretty sure no one else was nearby.

"_Yeah, and you know what that means." _the Kyuubi replied.

"_We should get back quickly. That wind jutsu was probably Orochimaru's" _Minato spoke in a serious tone.

Naruto nodded, but just as he was about to get moving, he heard a girl scream a bit away from him in the other direction.

_Uggghh, damn my Hero complex! _He mentally yelled at himself before he decided to go towards the scream. He came across a redhead girl with glasses and her two teammates, well dead teammates, and a large, very hungry looking tiger. He guessed that they must have gotten ambushed by the animal, and as a result her two teammates got killed. And likely she would be next. As the animal approached her, ready to punce, she closed her eyes in her fear.

However, Naruto quickly jumped in and took the tiger out with a dropkick to the back of its head, taking it out. The girl, who realized she wasn't dead yet, opened her eyes to see the tiger, likely dead since blood was dripping out of its mouth, with a blond youth standing on top of it.

"You alright!?" he said with a bit of a rushed tone.

"I-I'm fine, thanks." she replied.

"Well good, anyhow I gotta go! Teammates to save and all that bye!" he replied as he jumped up to one of the nearby trees.

The redhead then yelled in annoyance "Hey! Don't leave me here! At least tell me your name jackass!"

Naruto decided to humor her as he turned his eyes towards her, and said "Naruto Uzumaki! Future Hokage! Anyhow bye!" He then started to shunshin across the trees, vanishing from the redhead's sight.

Meanwhile, the redhead couldn't help but say "Wait, he's also an Uzumaki?...That lying motherfucker!...also, why did his chakra feel weird? Bah, doesn't matter right now! That prick Orochimaru told me I didn't have any living relatives, and look who popped up!"

She huffed in annoyance before she looked at her dead teammates, before she sighed "Well, my teammates are dead, my 'boss' lied about not having any living relatives, and now I'm stuck in a forest filled with a bunch of monsters...Kami dammit."

* * *

**Sasuke: Wait, that last bit was Karin wasn't it?**

**Karin: Yeah, guess WVH didn't want the whole 'attached to Sasuke' thing...still pissed Orochimaru didn't tell me about Naruto, who is probably my cousin.**

**Naruto: No kidding.**

**WVH: Also Karin, if it makes you feel better, I'm not gonna toss you to the Harem. Rather you'll just be good friends.**

**Karin: Yeah, I'd rather not catch his stupidity**

**Naruto: Hey!**

**Sakura: I can agree with you there**

**Naruto: Not you too Sakura!**

**Kakashi: Just relax Naruto. It could be worse, remember canon Sasuke?**

**Team 7: ...true**

**Canon Sasuke: Really Kakashi, really?**

**WVH: ...I'm not even going to ask how he got here. Anyhow to the readers, hope you enjoyed the chapter!**

**Some blond hair guy wearing blue: Also make sure you R&R and come back for the next chapter!**

**WVH: ...I'm not gonna ask how he got in here either...but...GO BACK HOME YOU TWO!**

**PS. Next chapter will be Team 7 vs Orochimaru, or those of you who are people of culture, Orochi-pedo. So yes, it'll be action time!**


	8. Chapter 8: 4 Brats Vs Orochimaru

**It's finally here! The ****first**** chapter with fight scenes since they came back from Wave! so I suggest you get ready to enjoy what ensues though! Oh and don't worry, there will be comedy in here, that's for sure. Also, I did say I was planning on working on multiple chapters today...but things are looking a bit more busy than I thought...but anyhow, here's your chapter!...plus disclaimer.**

**DISCLAIMER: Yada Yada I Don't own Naruto or any of its stuff. Yada Yada that belongs to ****Masashi Kishimoto, Shueisha, Viz Media, TV Tokyo Co., and Shonen Jump, and some other content creators. And other than that, I own the story and whatever techniques I come up with, such as in this chapter actually. Now enjoy!**

* * *

Chapter 8: 4 Brats vs Orochimaru

_Forest of Death, Konohagakure, Land of Fire_

_With Sasuke, Sakura, and Haku_

While Naruto was dealt with the giant snake and more, the three that didn't get blown away had their own snake problem.

"Kukuku, that was quite clever. You had a backup to the password you were talking about earlier. I don't know what seals you were talking about, but I'll have to figure that out later." the 'kunoichi' spoke.

He looked at the group before he noted "So, we have a civilian brat, a girl with an ice genkai that will probably be quite interesting to experiment on, and of course, Sasuke Uchiha, last of the Uchiha besides your brother...but I'd say so far, I'm preferring you over him. Oh yes indeed." He then licked his lips a bit.

Sasuke didn't know whether to be annoyed that he was being compared to his brother, or grossed out that the kunoichi who was possibly Orochimaru was licking their lips while they looked at him. Sasuke couldn't help but feel uncomfortable.

Meanwhile, Haku was also a bit grossed out, but she was also a bit afraid. She was sure that this person was leagues above her master, making it more likely it was Orochimaru. And from what she knew, Orochimaru was not kidding when he said he would find it interesting.

As for Sakura, while she was shaking a bit from fear, but as she saw how Sasuke was quite uncomfortable, she ended up stepping up. If Kakashi or Gai were there, they would be quite proud.

"Who are you!? You can't possibly have us believe you're just a genin! Not with that amount of chakra you're letting off." she yelled at him, which also gave their comrades a bit of morale.

The snake snickered "Ah, seems like you at least have a bit of spirit, and decent observation too. I suppose I can humor you...I go by Orochimaru. Now, let's begin, shall we?"

In response to that, Sasuke activated his Sharingan, Haku started building up chakra, and Sakura got into a combat stance.

The Sannin then dashed in front of them in moments, but with Sasuke's Sharingan, which had reached the 3 tomoe stage during their month of training, intercepted the snake, blocking a punch that was meant for Sakura.

"Oh quite impressive reaction speed Sasuke-kun. Should be expected of an Uchiha of course!"

_Sheesh! This guy hits hard!...but not as hard as Sakura!_ Sasuke thought with a grin on his face.

Orochimaru noticed this and looked above to see Sakura coming from above with a downwards kick. And while he dodged it by stepping backwards, he didn't move far enough as when her foot hit the ground, it caused the nearby terrain to collapse, knocking Orochimaru off balance.

"Tch!" he let out in annoyance. He hadn't expected the pinkette to have that much power. Seemed like things had changed from the information Kabuto had originally gathered on the team.

Just as Sakura was about to follow up with a punch at the Sannin, Orochimaru jumped in the air. He knew that he probably didn't want to get hit with those punches. He could already tell that the girl was like a mini Tsunade. And he knew how hard his ex-teammate could hit.

However, it wasn't over yet for him.

"Ice Style: Icicle Barrage!" Haku yelled as she summoned a large amount of ice senbon to her side, which she then launched at the Sannin.

Said Sannin quickly did a set of handsigns before he silently cast his own jutsu, in which a large amount of snakes came out of his right sleeve. The two attacks then collided with each other, until Orochimaru ran out of the snakes he used for that jutsu, and Haku ran out of ice senbon.

However, he then felt a spike of chakra coming from behind him. He turned his head to see a large fireball was flying towards him. If one paid attention, you could see a grin on his face.

The fireball then collided with the Sannin, resulting in an explosion. However, the team was certain the Sannin wasn't down just yet. They could all feel his malevolence in the air, so they stayed sharp, observant of their surroundings.

Wherever Orochimaru was, the group could hear him clapping as he said "Ah, quite splendid indeed. I would have liked it better if you tried to fight me on your own, but you and your little friends aren't half bad...but I think it's time I stop playing around."

Sasuke caught the Sannin's location and tried to shout towards Haku, but the Sannin erupted out of the ground below her, punching her in the gut before he then summoned a large snake to ram at her. She managed to catch herself in the air though and summoned a set of ice mirrors to dodge the snake that was charging at her. She then landed on top of the snake and set off another jutsu.

"Ice Style: Hand of Winter!"

She then put her hands on the snake, which in turn caused the part she touched to flash freeze and then spread further along. In fact, due to the biology of snakes, the attack was quite effective. Orochimaru couldn't help but now consider the ice brat an annoyance. With her around she could actually counter most of his snake style jutsu...but then again, he was also a Sannin for a reason.

It was also noted that Orochimaru no longer had his disguise as it had been burnt away by Sasuke's Great Fireball Jutsu, revealing his long black hair, pale white skin, his little outfit that went with a purple rope around his waist, and his intimidating, snake-like eyes.

As he was dodging Sakura's attacks, much to her annoyance, he then made the tiger handseal. As he did so, Haku could hear the sound of a fuse. She then quickly attempted to make an ice wall before the snake she had flash frozen previously exploded.

"HAKU!" Sakura yelled to her, however the Sannin took advantage of this as he quickly punched the pinkette in the gut, causing her to cough up blood before he then set off a signless wind type jutsu to send her flying towards one of the surrounding trees.

Just as he did so however, Orochimaru noticed Sasuke was no longer where he was previously, and turned around to find the boy right behind him. With a kunai that had electrical sparks on it.

Sasuke then swiped at the Sannin, causing a large gash to appear on Orochimaru's back, and also suffer an amount of lightning damage. With this, Sasuke was sure he would be stunned long enough to deal the finishing blow.

However, Orochimaru opened his mouth wide, and in the group's disgust, a second Orochimaru came out of his mouth, holding a blade that had a wooden handle of sorts. He then disarmed the boy with a single swipe before he then kicked Sasuke up towards one of the trees. As his back hit the bark, Sasuke was pretty sure a few ribs were cracked from that kick. As he fell down, he landed on one of the larger branches. He managed to get himself back up with will alone, but knew it was likely that they wouldn't be able to keep this up for long.

"Yes yes yes! You'll definitely be the perfect host, kukukukuku!" he spoke with a joyous, yet creepy as all hell smile on his face. Orochimaru then jumped up to where Sasuke was and went to attack him with a barrage of taijutsu ranging from jabs, kicks, and so forth, all of which had snake like movements to them. Sasuke was barely hanging on, managing to make successful blocks due to his Sharingan. However, he could feel the pain from the Sannin's attacks slowly impairing his movements.

Fortunately, his teammates had enough time to recover and made their move as Haku launched an Ice Dragon at the Sannin. Of course though, Orochimaru managed to dodge it in time, now standing on the bottom of the tree branch as the Ice Dragon passed by above, only for Sakura to jump up towards him while unleashing a familiar spinning kick.

"Leaf Hurricane!" she yelled as she made her attack.

However, the Sannin knew the attack well enough that he simply contorted his upper body backwards with impossible flexibility.

"OH COME O-" Sakura yelled, only to once again be sent flying into the dirt as the Sannin grabbed her leg and then threw her downwards. Haku rushed to catch her, and as a result, ended up mitigating some of the damage. However, Haku felt their chances starting to dwindle. She was low on chakra after the use of several of her ice style jutsus, plus she had taken a decent amount of damage from the set of explosion, the outer part of her clothes in tatters. And in the case of Sasuke and Sakura while they probably still had a good amount of chakra, had taken heavy hits from the Sannin as well.

From what Orochimmaru could tell though, the two on the ground were unlikely to move, so he decided to focus back on his main objective. He then flipped back onto the top of the branch, only to realize as he did so he got caught in a large amount of ninja wire. He didn't even see it since it had been camouflaged. The boy himself had a bit of the wire connecting to his mouth

"Seems you've been busy Sasuke-kun." he praised the young Uchiha.

However, Sasuke was having none of it as he just said "And how about you burn!" before he went through a few handsigns before he let out his jutsu.

"Fire style: Dragon Flame Jutsu!"

The wire in his mouth then caught alight, a stream of fire running down it, as well as the other wires, and straight at Orochimaru, catching the Sannin ablaze.

Of course though, the Sannin made a substitution last second and then with a punch to the gut, sent him back to the ground next to his friends.

"SASUKE!" his teammates yelled.

The Sannin then jumped down and landed across from them with an amused smile on his face. He was quite pleased with how well Sasuke was putting up a fight. But he had things to do, so he decided it was time to wrap things up.

"Now then, I suppose I should mark you first Sasuke-kun...and maybe the ice brat as well...though I'm killing the pink brat." He said as he then formed a set of hand signs.

Sasuke, Sakura, and Haku tried to get up to get on guard, only to be caught by surprise as Orochimaru's neck then stretched like a snake before he then bit the boy right around his nape, causing him to cry out in pain.

As Orochimaru did so however, he had a slight look of surprise on his face, as he noticed two things in particular.

He swore he could see a set of bandages around Sasuke's chest, as well as the fact his scream was a bit high pitched, which the others ignored due to how their teammate just got hurt badly.

As he let go, causing Sasuke to fall to the ground unconscious, he let out "Well, what are the odds. I suppose I shouldn't be surprised, but it doesn't matter in the end...I suppose I'll jus-"

Before he could continue, he was suddenly hit by a high speed dropkick by none other than everyone's favorite blond ninja.

"Naruto!" Sakura and Haku said at the same time. They were both glad he was okay and that the odds could be evened up a bit with him here.

Naruto looked at them with a smirk on his face before he noticed Sasuke was down on the ground.

"Sakura-chan. Take care of Sasuke. Whatever that pedo over there did, Sasuke probably needs medical attention for it." Naruto said to her.

Sakura nodded. Rather than acting like the fangirl she had been previously, she acted as a medic as she quickly grabbed Sasuke and pulled them out of the way. Haku meanwhile took one of the soldier pills from her pockets and ate it so that she could support Naruto once her chakra recovered.

Meanwhile Orochimaru looked at the boy as he said "So you're the Kyuubi brat? I'll admit, that wasn't a bad kick, but you're going to have to do better than that to defeat me."

Naruto gave the man a glare, and said "What did you do to Sasuke?"

Orochimaru grinned as he said "I gave Sasuke a present." However, his face turned into a frown as he added "...though it came with a surprise…"

Naruto looked a bit puzzled by the last remark but shook his head. He then smashed his fists together as he said "Well I'm still kicking your ass!"

Orochimaru laughed as he said "And how are you going to do that little Dead-Last?"

What happened next made him regret that remark.

"This."

The voice came from behind him as in less than a moment, Naruto disappeared in a flash of yellow and reappeared right behind the Sannin.

"WHA-" Orochimaru tried to yell, only to be punched quite hard in the face, sending him skidding across the forest floor.

As Orochimaru collected himself, he thought _Was that Hiraishin? This may pose more of a problem than I thought._

The blonde then came at him again, only this time, his fists were cloaked in flame. Orochimaru could tell right away those flames were not normal and proceeded to dodge, feeling the heat from the attacks as each one missed him by inches.

Orochimaru then tried to strike him with the Kusanagi blade, only to get quite pissed as right as the blade was about to cut him on his shoulder, Naruto launched a slightly ironic jutsu.

"Wind Style: Great Breakthrough!"

Orochimaru then was sent flying back into a tree, and Naruto couldn't help but let a smirk appear on his face as he said "YEAH TAKE THAT SNAKE BASTARD!" He was quite pleased to get a bit of revenge from what happened to him earlier.

"Okay, brat, you are really starting to annoy me!" Orochimaru snarled as he sent a barrage of snakes at Naruto, which he dodged, only to have his leg caught by Orochimaru's other hand that had been extended. The Snake Sannin then swung the boy into a nearby tree before retracting his hand and dragged Naruto along with it.

Orochimaru then held the boy up by his leg, causing the boy's shirt to go towards his head just enough for his belly, and seal to be exposed. Orochimaru then had a set of snakes constrict the boy's arms enough so that he wouldn't be able to hit him. Orochimaru sneered as he spoke "I don't know how you managed to get this strong Fox Brat, but it doesn't matter. Now just stay still for a moment…"

Orochimaru then started sending chakra to his other hand, causing purple chakra to appear on his fingertips. In response, both Naruto and Minato from within the seal realized just what the Sannin was planning.

_Shit! Five Pronged Seal!_

"_You can't let him use that! We don't know what will happen!" _Minato yelled. The seal had already been somewhat screwed up, they didn't need or want it to get worse.

"_Brat, if there's any time to pull something out of your ass, now is the time!" _the Kyuubi yelled at Naruto.

Naruto had a lightbulb go off in his head as right before Orochimaru could swing his arm at him, he made a single handed handseal and yelled "Kai!"

Just as he did so, Orochimaru was then sent flying away from Naruto. He skidded on the ground, the five pronged seal technique in his hand no longer active as he tried to compute what just happened.

_What the heck! I was sure the boy was restrained! And I'm confident he doesn't have any one hand sign jutsu he can use with one hand! _He thought.

However, what he saw next explained it to him, as well as caught his interest.

The boy in front of him now had a pair of fox ears, similar to the Kyuubi's, and an orange and black fox tail. He then released the boy must have hit him with the tail the second the smoke from his...transformation...occurred to twist his body so that it would hit. And he could tell it wasn't fake, it was certainly real.

Meanwhile Minato sighed "_That was close...and I guess he did pull something out of his ass."_

The Kyuubi simply couldn't decide whether to laugh at the irony of it, or get pissed since the first thing Naruto associated with the phrase with the limb connected to Naruto's tailbone. It decided to simply huff at Minato's comment.

Orochimaru took in this form as he then said "How interesting. I don't know how, but you've somehow taken in some of the Kyuubi's form and abilities. Yes very interesting. Perhaps that explains what that fire was...ku...kukukuku."

Naruto and Minato felt a little uneasy. They were wondering just for what reason the Sannin was laughing like that.

The Kyuubi even said "_Why do I have a bad feeling about what he's going to say next?"_

Orochimaru then in a look of ecstasy said "I've never heard of a Jinchuriki that's actually become part of the beast they contain! I think I'll make sure to have you captured alive so that I can study that body of yours! Every inch of it! And with how young you are, I'm certain I will have plenty of time to do so!"

The entire group, minus the unconscious Sasuke, were both scared and grossed out by what he just said, as while it was scary considering that face he made could probably kill puppies, what he said could be taken in another way. As such, the entire group was in a shocked silence.

The Kyuubi then said "_...as much as I despise the pervert of the Sannin as a wo-I mean the strongest of the tailed beasts...I'd take him any day over this pedophile who wants to mess with my container!"_

Naruto collected himself back together, ignorant of the Kyuubi's near mess up, before he looked at the Sannin as he tried to come up with a plan since he definitely did not want to be Orochimaru's new test subject and possibly boy toy. He saw something in the corner of his eye, and came up with what might help them win this.

"Question. Are you a pedophile?"

The Snake Sannin paused for a moment before he replied "No, I simply take no interest in sexual interactions, what are you implyi-"

Before he could finish Naruto interrupted him with "Do you 'experiment' on kids more than adults? That and how many people work for you directly are young? Also, how many are boys?"

On the inside Naruto was slamming his head against a mental wall about how dumb the plan was, Kyuubi was laughing its ass off, and Minato felt pride at the amount of balls his son was showing with this.

Haku meanwhile, as she sneaked around the Sannin, was thinking the same as Minato about Naruto. And if they survived this, she swore to kiss the blond afterwards. She liked him enough as it was due to what happened in Wave as well as the last month, but the fact he was buying her time by literally insulting one of the strongest living shinobi, she was damn sure he was worth it.

Sakura had her mouth wide open, shocked that Naruto had the gall to insult the Sannin, a S-Rank missing nin, the one who had been kicking their asses, in such a manner. It was beyond stupid, insane even, in her thoughts.

The Sannin was about to speak before he realized the boy wasn't wrong. A lot of his elites were decently young, especially when he had originally found them. Even more so, the majority of them were male, save for Tayuya and Guren. Heck his right hand was barely out of his teens at this point. And lastly, a majority of the bodies he had taken over were young men.

_Wait...Am I a Pedophile? _Orochimaru thought as he put his hand under his chin in a pondering pose.

At this point, he was distracted long enough for Haku to use the opportunity to ambush him.

"Ice Style: Frozen Waterfall Flow!"

Haku then summoned a ball of water that then fired like a horizontal waterfall at the Sannin. Orochimaru barely managed to look around and say before the attack hit him, and he found himself inside the water.

"That's distracting!" he said right before the water turned to ice, freezing the Sannin in a block of it.

However, the Sannin quickly broke out of it with his strength as he said "And that's annoyingly distracting!"

But he couldn't help but feel like he forgot something...only to notice the LARGE amount of chakra behind him. He turned to see the boy with one of his left fist pulled back, and that orange flames were spewing from it all over the place. And what terrified the Sannin was that the flames around the fist were not only LOADED with chakra, but took the form of the Kyuubi's head.

He barely had a moment before Naruto yelled out his jutsu.

"Fox Fire Style: Burning Maw!"

Naruto punched the air as the Flame Kyuubi head launched from his fist, enlarging itself to the size of one of Orochimaru's snake summons, its mouth wide open as it flew towards him.

Orochimaru knew he didn't have enough time to summon his Rashomon gates, and simply did one thing.

"Oh my Kami." he said as he raised his hands to block the attack...not that it would do much. His moment of fear even made him forget he could have easily used a seal-less substitution.

Inside the seal, Kyuubi couldn't help but snicker "Om nom nom."

As the maw hit Orochimaru, it exploded forwards, and sent the pedo flying quite far away, with a large amount of his body now covered in 2nd degree burns, and his hands with 3rd degree burns.

As the dust settled, the group could now see, much to their surprise, that Naruto had blasted about half a mile of the trees into ash, the ground under it was now blackened, and the Sannin was now nowhere to be seen.

Haku was quite surprised by the power, but was happy to know that Naruto had waited long enough for her to get out of the way before he sent the attack at Orochimaru. Sakura had the bottom her mouth on the forest floor, shocked that Naruto had that much power...though it only lasted a second.

"Ow ow ow! I hate how it does this every time!" he yelped as he ran in circles holding up his left arm that was now covered in 2nd degree burns.

Sakura sighed as she realized while he had gotten stronger...still Naruto. Though she did decide perhaps she should try to be a bit kinder with him. He basically saved their asses plus sent a Sannin flying, so she wouldn't argue.

Haku merely giggled a little before she went over to check on the boy. The girls then noticed that the arm started smoking a little as the burns were healed over. Sakura couldn't help but be curious due to her understanding of anatomy and biology.

"Naruto, what was that?" Sakura asked.

Naruto grinned as he told them "Oh, that was one of the new jutsu I had been working on with dad and Kyuubi! Took forever to get it that good!...still sucks that I burn my arm and spend a LOT of chakra every time I use it though."

Sakura then screeched "Not that BAKA! I meant how is your arm all healed now!? It should take days for something like that to heal!"

Naruto said "Oh, I heal fast, always have."

Within the seal the Kyuubi gloated "_You can thank me for that fleshbag. It's one of the abilities my Jinchuuriki gain_."

Naruto paused for a moment at that before he spoke "Oh, that was you Kyuubi? Thanks! You saved my bacon then a lot of times!"

Sakura and Haku then shrugged. They guessed it was a Jinchuriki thing.

Inside the seal, the Kyuubi looked at Minato with a shit-eating grin as it looked at Minato.

"_HA! 5-4! Eat that fleshbag!"_

Minato nodded before he shot back.

"_And what did you nearly call yourself earlier?"_

The Kyuubi winced back before it said "_...dammit, 5-5…"_

But Minato wasn't done.

"_And also, unlike you, I wasn't really affected by Gai and Lee's...genjutsu as much as you were earlier. So 6-5."_

Naruto could hear the Kyuubi groaning in defeat, and swearing it would get its lead back, but Naruto focused on other matters.

"Hey how's Teme?" he said.

Sakura then spoke "Oh right, I helped in stabilizing him a bit, but I'm going to have to check for internal damage next. He probably broke a few ribs earlier and I can't help in healing that through his clothing."

Naruto deadpanned for a moment before commenting "...you just want to see Teme shirtless, don't you?"

Sakura smirked as she said "I am a medic, and now I have an excuse. Now let me work Naruto."

Naruto couldn't help but ask "Wait...did you not call me baka?"

Sakura blushed a little as she said "Oh shut up."

Haku found their conversation amusing as it was, and in the back of her mind noted to later kiss the blond boy since that's what she swore she would do. But then she remembered one of the most amusing things about her raven haired teammate and watched what happened next with grin clearly on her face.

Just as Sakura carefully took off Sasuke's shirt so that she could check for the damage, she and Naruto saw one thing in particular.

That there was a set of bandages on his chest...and under them a set of breasts.

It took them a moment of silence and blinking to process that their teammate wasn't a he...but a she.

And so, both blond and pinkette yelled in unison.

"EEEEEEEEEHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!?"

Meanwhile, Haku was laughing, with a snort or two coming out even.

"Oh that was so worth the wait!" Haku let out before she laughed even more.

Meanwhile in the seal...the Kyuubi was doing the exact same thing as Haku was.

Though Minato sighed as something else was on his mind.

Orochimaru would be back eventually. But as to whether he would kill Naruto or not…

It was uncertain.

* * *

**Sakura: I'm so happy you implied this beforehand...**

**Naruto: What the fuck? Sasuke's a chick? ...actually that explains WAAY too much.**

**Sakura: What do you mean?**

**Naruto: He-I mean she was surrounded by girls wanting Sasuke, and never acted on it. What sane man that clearly doesn't act gay would turn that down!?**

**Sakura: ...oh my kami why didn't I notice before?**

**Haku: Because you were a fangirl, and your reactions were priceless**

**Sasuke: I will agree with Haku on that at the least.**

**Kakashi: Indeed...that reminds me, I need to speak with Lord Third...**

**Hiruzen: ...oh right the bet...shit...**

**Zabuza and Kyuubi are still recovering from laughing their asses off**

**Naruto: Wait Sasuke, if you're a chick, then what's your actual name?**

**WVH: Wait til next time Naruto. Now that they've had their fun, in any case, I hope you all found the chapter amusing and entertaining! Be sure to R&R and come back for next chapter. Also if you want to see the info on the techniques unique to the series, look below!**

* * *

**Unique Jutsus**

**Ice Style: Icicle Barrage-The User ****manipulates the water in the Air to create a large amount of ice senbon that are then fired at the targeted area**

**Ice Style: Hand of Winter-The User charges ice chakra into their hands, dropping their temperature dramatically, allowing the user to flash freeze whatever they touch. Note the technique cannot be activated for long and can only be used by those of the Yuki clan due to their genetics giving them high resistance to the cold.**

**Ice Style: Ice Dragon Missile-Think ice version of the water one Kakashi and Zabuza used**

**Fox Fire Style: Burning Fists-A simple bit of fire manipulation to cover ones fists with flames, added on that instead of normal flames, its the flames of the Kyuubi. It's noted that it tends to look like the Kyuubi's own hands/claws but as flames instead.**

**Ice Style: Frozen Waterfall Flow-The user manipulates the water around them to create a pressurized sphere of water that is then fired as a waterfall at the chosen target. Furthermore, upon hitting, the water then freezes, freezing whatever is inside of the water along with it.**

**Fox Fire Style: Burning Maw-An Original Jutsu created by Naruto under the guidance****of Minato Namikaze and the Kyuubi. The user charges a large amount of fox fire chakra into their fist, and than exerts it outside of the fist and manipulating it into the shape of the Kyuubi's head while charging the flames further to increase the heat. The user then punches towards the intended****target, shooting the Flame Kyuubi head at the target. Upon contact with the target, the head then explodes forwards, blasting anything in front of it with a blast of fox fire. Other than major collateral damage, the main negative of this jutsu is that the heat of the flames can burn the user's hand as well. Fortunately for Naruto, his healing factor makes this issue temporary.**


	9. Chapter 9: Memory Dive

**Hello everyone! I hope you're all enjoying a Merry Christmas if you celebrate it. Otherwise Happy Holidays! In any case though, here's the next chapter of the series. It's sort of a mini-arc that I'll work on wrapping up next chapter. Main reason being is that I can get rid of two birds with one stone by doing so! In any case, sit back and enjoy the chapter!...but first...yes, again...**

**DISCLAIMER: We all know it, I don't own Naruto or any of its stuff. That belongs to ****Masashi Kishimoto, Shueisha, Viz Media, TV Tokyo Co., and Shonen Jump, and some other content creators. And that I own the story itself and any techniques I come up with. Now on with the story!**

* * *

Chapter 9: Memory Dive

_Forest of Death, Konohagakure, Land of Fire_

The group of Anbu, Anko, and the Third Hokage, who had entered the Training Ground, and strangely enough, the redhead Naruto had saved earlier, were all still a bit flabbergasted at what they just saw.

They were following the lead Naruto left them on his paper for the first exam, and also grabbed Anko, who was furious with herself for not realizing the ninja that could extend their tongue was none other than her estranged master. She would have been banging her head against something if she had the time to do so.

As for the redhead, who named herself as Karin Uzumaki, much to the surprise of the Konoha Nin, had been picked up by them earlier. They happened to come across her on their way towards where sensory ninja had picked up Orochimaru's chakra. She in fact noticed them as they were passing by, and when they realized both her teammates were dead, they decided to help her out, though Hiruzen straight up ordered it when she told them her name and the fact she worked for, well now USED to work for, the Snake Sannin, who happened to lie to her about any surviving family members. He decided the best option here was to put her into protective custody, have Inochi confirm the details and possibly ask her to give them a bit of info with confirmation. She accepted the conditions, but of course laid a condition or two. The main one being that she wanted to know more about the person who could be her cousin, and secondly more about her clan. Hiruzen accepted this, as he thought it would be a nice way to give his grandson of sorts a bit of connection to his roots. Plus she wasn't originally from the village, much like Haku, she wouldn't have the absurd hatred the civilians had for him. It was an absolute win!

Though he would have to hear the whining of the civilian council and demands from the crazed war hawk. But then again, he managed to blow them off last time with Haku. He could probably do it again.

However, at the moment, they were currently in the trees a bit away from where a fight just took place. The one where Team 7 fought the Snake Sannin. They happened to get there right when Naruto asked Orochimaru one of the most absurd questions he could.

Most of the ninja were trying desperately hard to not laugh, especially when it seemed like Orochimaru had started to ponder on the thought. However, Hiruzen simply grinned as while yes, it was funny, it was actually a strategy. A dumb one, but one that worked splendidly.

Though none of them were ready for when Naruto had launched his powerful jutsu and sent Orochimaru flying. They had witnessed of all things, a genin sending a Sannin flying. Of course some of them rationalized it. They noted that Naruto while a Genin, was the Nine Tails Jinchuriki, though implicitly since it was forbidden to talk about it. Of course, Karin caught on to what they were talking about. Though half of them nearly lost it again when it was revealed that Sasuke was female. All except for Hiruzen, because now he knew that not only had Kakashi called it, but now he had to let Kurenai burn all of his 'collection'. However, there was also one other important matter.

"Anko and Karin, I will ask this of you right now. What you saw, you tell no one save for those here. The boy's form, his power, and the one girl hiding her gender. Understood?" Hiruzen asked the two.

Anko simply gave him a thumbs up as she said "No problem! Especially the first one! That was great watching him both insult, and kick, Orochi Teme's ass!

Karin simply shrugged as she replied "Sure, I'm fine with that. I get to learn more about my clan that my parents told me about, and I get to spend time with my cousin."

Hiruzen raised an eyebrow as he asked "You aren't afraid of him?"

"Well, he was powerful, but his chakra felt...warm. Also I've seen crazier things than a guy with fox ears and tail. For example...a guy with six arms, one with two heads, one who can flip from shut-in to psycho killer in a moment, an annoying bastard who can literally become water, and lastly, this one guy who can pull out his spine and beat people to death with it. All of which either work for Orochimaru and/or are his experiments." Karin answered.

All of the Anbu, Anko, and Hiruzen all went silent from that, before they all replied at once.

"...are you serious?"

Karin nodded, which made many of them start to think Naruto's kitsune form was not that big of a deal.

* * *

_With Team 7_

As the Hokage was working on avoiding info leaks, Team 7 had moved themselves about a 20 or so minutes walk away from the battlefield, setting themselves up in a hollowed out tree.

Of course though, despite healing Sasuke's, or whatever her actual name was since they weren't quite sure, injuries, she still wasn't waking up, and was on occasion wincing in pain while in her unconscious state.

Naruto implied "It's likely that seal on her neck."

Sakura nodded, and spoke "Yeah. From what I saw, its right where Orochimaru bit her…"

Haku nodded as she said "Agreed…" before a grin appeared on her face.

Sakura deadpanned as Haku, and said "Haku, it isn't funny."

Haku simply giggled as she said "But it is. Not only did she trick everyone for years, but all the girls her age ended up fangirling for her 'boy' persona!"

Sakura simply groaned as it came back to her mind. She had learned that her dream of being with Sasuke was in fact, pointless. But then again, thanks to her recent training in the past month, and the hellish teacher that was Might Gai, she started to work on another goal. To be a strong kunoichi like Tsunade.

_I should really thank Tenten later. At least I still have a goal to strive towards _she thought.

Naruto was also a bit baffled by the situation. All this time it turned out his rival was in fact a girl. Naruto couldn't help but wonder if perhaps there was more his teammate was hiding.

Also, now that Sasuke's actual gender was revealed...he couldn't help but feel a strange nagging feeling in the back of his head. As if though he forgot something.

But in any case, Haku calmed herself down as she got the group to the main point.

"So, what are we going to do about that seal?"

The group was silent, contemplating for a moment before Minato spoke up.

"_Naruto, make a clone for me to use. I can examine it."_

"Of course duh! Seal Master!" he replied. Before the girls could ask, Naruto summoned a shadow clone and let his father take control of it, though without the transformation jutsu. It wasn't exactly a secure location they were at. The girls got it though when the clone started speaking in a much calmer voice.

"Excuse me Sakura. I need to take a closer look at the curse mark here."

Sakura nodded, surprised at how Naruto's voice, even if Minato was currently in control, actually sounded kind of cool when he wasn't being a loudmouth.

Minato put his hand on the seal as he then probed it with his chakra. He then grimaced as he came to understand the messed up jutsu Orochimaru created.

"I have to say, I thought Orochimaru couldn't get lower, but now I can say that he's even worse than I thought."

The others looked a bit worried. Naruto asked his father "How bad? Is she going to die!?"

Minato shook his head and explained his findings.

"Yes and no. As it could kill her, but from what I can tell she would likely survive. The problem is what that snake put in there. First, he seemed to use the DNA of some sort of kekkai genkai so that the curse mark can forcibly draw in nature chakra, which in unhealthy amounts, can be quite bad. It can even drive a person insane without proper training. And that isn't even the worst of it."

Naruto asked his father "What exactly is nature chakra?"

Minato held up a finger as he replied "Nature chakra is basically the energy, or chakra, that comes from the surroundings rather than from within. With proper training, it's possible to absorb some of this, and thus, gain a boost in both chakra and natural abilities. Though due to how nature chakra is hard to control, absorbing too much at once can lead to death. I know this since I have such training...and before you ask Naruto, we'll get to that later."

The team nodded at the additional info, and then Sakura asked "So then, what's worse?"

Minato frowned and spoke "Orochimaru sealed a part of his soul in there for multiple reasons. First, to control the influx of nature chakra. Second, he can forcibly influence the bearer's mind from within, turning them on their friends and possibly into his loyal subjects…the third part though...it seems that it's possible for Orochimaru to use it to forcibly take over the bearer's body. He likely put it on Sasuke in order to get the Sharingan."

The group paled at the thought, realizing just how much in danger their teammate was. She could go crazy and end up basically being as a meatsack for Orochimaru to take over.

"What do we do dad!? We don't want her to die!" Naruto said with a bit of panic. However, Minato chuckled a bit.

"Don't worry Naruto. What's lesson number 21?"

Naruto pondered a bit and answered "Uuuhh...don't fuck up?"

Minato sighed "No, that's lesson 2. Lesson 21 is anything is possible with fuinjutsu."

"Wait so does that mean!?" Naruto beamed at his father with a big smile.

"Yes, but I won't be able to do this alone here." Minato said to them.

Sakura asked "What do you mean Lord 4th?"

Minato then explained his plan.

"Essentially, what we need to do is remove Orochimaru's soul from the seal, destroy it if possible. If we remove it I should be able to get rid of the rest of the curse mark. In order to do that, I'll need to have you three enter Sasuke's mindscape here. Though due to what's going on with her right now, you'll have to navigate through her memories until you can find Orochimaru. He's likely using her darkest memory in hopes of influencing her."

Haku noticed something as she asked "So basically, we're doing something similar to the Yamanakas? I thought their mindwalking was a clan jutsu?"

Sakura commented "Ugh, I hate the idea of using something like Ino-Pig's jutsu...and I can't even gloat about doing it first since Sasuke isn't actually a guy!"

Minato shrugged at Sakura's reaction before he said "Well it is based off the Yamanaka's jutsu. It's just I was recently able to reverse engineer it due to spending time in Naruto's own mindscape."

The group nodded as they accepted the sort of pseudo mission.

Naruto then yelled "Alright! What are we waiting for!?"

Minato then told them "Alright, I need you all to hold onto a part of me. And just so you know, you won't be able to directly interact with any memories save for whatever Orochimaru is trying to abuse, alright?"

The genins nodded as they all grabbed onto one of Minato's (still looking like Naruto, by the way) shoulders. He then made a seal on his hand with chakra alone, and the moment said hand came into contact with the curse mark, the world went black for the genins as their minds connected to Sasuke's.

* * *

_Inside Sasuke's Mindscape_

As their eyes opened, the group found themselves somewhere quite familiar. It was the ninja academy, and in fact, in the classroom they had used for several years even.

"What the heck, why are we here?" Naruto looked around a bit confused.

Sakura replied to him "Naruto, we're in Sasuke's mind remember? Perhaps this is his memory of the place."

Suddenly a voice came from besides them, and it was feminine.

"Indeed...sigh that blond bastard fucking owes me for this one."

The group looked to the side of them to see a woman they didn't recognize standing next to them. She had long, wild red hair and wore a black kimono.

What they did recognize though was the red eyes with slits, the fox ears, and the nine tails that came out her back.

Sakura ended up asking what was on everyone's mind.

"K-Kyuubi?"

She simply smirked as she replied "Yes, it is I, the almighty Kyuubi!"

Naruto looked a bit confused as he then said "Wait, aren't you male?"

The Kyuubi sighed "Nope. I just think acting as a male has a better intimidation factor. Plus most of you annoying fleshbags end up going on and on about the whole 'oh she's a girl, she's totally weak' bullshit. Also, before Pinky here started taking her training seriously, she was a prime example of that!"

"Hey!"

Haku then asked "So why are you showing us...this...now?"

"Well, Minato thought it might be a good idea for me to help you due to one of my particular abilities Naruto doesn't have access to yet, the ability to sense negative emotions. Plus since this is a mental projection of myself, I can't use that voice change I normally do. And lastly do you really think I could fit in this dump of an academy in my actual size?" The Kyuubi explained to them.

The group nodded before Sakura yelled "Hey! This place isn't a dump, we learned a lot here!"

The Kyuubi then gave her a short glare before she said "Oh? You mean the same place where teachers would remove the blond brat here from class for no reason before starting an important lesson, doing nothing as older brats beat him into the dirt, never replacing his textbooks that had been stolen, or even how half the time the teachers would fail him on tests even if he had the right answers? Only real plus sides to this shithole was that one fleshbag Iruka actually treated him fairly as well as that Pineapple head, the chubby one, and that one pale eyes that was in the back. Sasuke too if you think about it. Oh and the pranks, those were fun to watch."

The two girls looked shocked as they looked at Naruto. Sakura knew that the blond was the dead last back in the Academy, but she never realized until the Kyuubi said it that a majority of the teachers and some of the other students had despised the boy and constantly harassed him. She also put together it was likely due to how the Kyuubi was sealed inside of him, and thus the irrational hatred of the civilians and not as bright shinobi became aimed at him. Haku was inwardly furious that people would treat him in such a manner. He had a kind soul, yet had to deal with such treatment?

"I-I'm sorry Naruto...I didn't know." Sakura apologized. Sakura guessed that was probably part of the reason why the boy always gravitated towards her. She didn't treat him like a monster at least, but she still couldn't help but feel bad.

Naruto shrugged as he said "It's okay Sakura. At least I got out of that place. And besides, they call me dead last, then I'll be the underdog!"

Haku put a hand on his shoulder as she added "We're here if you need us Naruto-kun...also want to prank those stupid teachers after the exams are over?"

Naruto grinned as he and Haku then shook their hands. While Sakura wanted to feel some pity for their targets, she also thought they would be getting what they deserved.

Their moment was interrupted as the door to the classroom opened, revealing Sasuke in his brand new headband as she walked over towards her spot near the window and sat down, looking outside.

What happened next confused the group.

"_Today's the day for team assignments. I hope I get a good team...without one of the fangirls. I still find it confusing as to why when I act like an asshole they gravitate towards me."_

As the feminine voice spoke, the Kyuubi explained.

"We're in the crossdresser's mind idiots. What you're hearing are her thoughts when the event happened."

Naruto then laughed and said "Really? Oh my kami that hilarious! She must have been acting like an ass to try and avoid people, but look what happened! That's priceless!"

Sakura sighed "That's why she acted so distant? I just thought she was a troubled bad boy that needed love to fill his suffering soul."

Haku shrugged as she replied to the pinkette "Well, you and probably all of her other fangirls."

The scene then played out as the many other graduates entered the room, including Naruto.

"_Wait. I thought Naruto-kun failed!?...doesn't matter. It's good that he passed. Maybe he'll be on my team. I know he can be stronger...I'll need it when I confront Nii-San…"_

"Wait, who's Nii-san?" Naruto questioned with a tilt of his head.

Sakura then answered "I think if I remember right, her older brother was the one who massacred her clan."

Naruto's eyes widened as he yelled "Wait a sec? So she wasn't kidding when she said she wanted to kill someone!?"

"Guess that's one reason why she distanced herself...as well as trying to keep her gender a secret." Haku said.

As things played out as before, they got to the point where Naruto and Sasuke ended up in a kiss.

Naruto couldn't help but note "Well, at least now that I know Sasuke is a chick, it's not as bad now."

Sakura couldn't help but nod to that...meanwhile Haku was on the floor laughing, and Kyuubi was laughing as well as she remembered Naruto's own thoughts at the time.

"_Crap! Naruto-kun is kissing me! This probably would raise questions if I look like I like it! Wait, I know!"_

Then the group watched as Sasuke acted like she had just ate poison, which made it seem like she was simply a guy that was suffering from a yaoi moment.

Haku couldn't help but say "Wow Naruto, I didn't realize you were such a lady killer."

Naruto meanwhile had a blush on his face from the embarrassment. He also spoke out loud "Wait...she liked that?...no wonder I felt weird about it…"

"And it was hilarious! Especially since I knew even back then!" the Kyuubi replied between her fits of laughter. She still thought this moment was priceless.

Sakura then said "Wait...does that mean Sasuke was interested in you Naruto?"

This caused Naruto to want to hit his head on the desk, meanwhile Haku and Kyuubi were laughing at the thought that the little love triangle Team 7 had before Haku joined was even better than expected. It was literally a cycle.

Naruto yelled "I didn't realize there was any girls that liked me! But one was right in front of me the whole time! What the heck!?"

* * *

_Elsewhere in the Forest of Death_

"Acho!"

Hinata had a quick sneeze as she and her team traveled across the treetops and towards the tower.

Kiba asked "You alright Hinata?"

Hinata replied "I-I'm fine Kiba-kun"

Shino commented "Maybe someone was talking about you?"

Hinata in response thought _Maybe it's Naruto-kun? That would be nice if he's thinking about me…_

* * *

_Back in the mindscape_

The Kyuubi collected herself with a few breaths, and said "Well, as entertaining as this moment is, we should get moving. We'll need to go deeper in order to find Orochimaru."

Sakura replied "Right."

Just as Naruto was about to reply Iruka entered the door...and then walked right through Naruto's body.

"WHAT THE FUCK!?" Naruto screamed.

The Kyuubi let out a laugh before she reminded him "Brat, your father told you before that other than the part of the mindscape we're looking for we aren't able to interact with anything else, remember?"

Naruto sweatdropped as he said "Oh right...I totally remember that."

Said reaction got a giggle out of the other two girls.

The group then followed Kyuubi towards the classroom door and went through it.

After stepping through, they realized they were in another place. It looked like the inside of a house. The floors were wooden, the walls painted white, and there were also a few curtains with the Uchiha symbol on them.

"Oh I know where we are! This must be Sasuke's house she lived in before that condo she uses now!" Sakura said as she observed the surroundings.

Haku and Kyuubi both had evil grins on their faces, and asked in unison "And just how do you know that?"

Sakura chose not to answer their question. With her former dream crushed, she had been starting to realize how much of an idiot she had been. The dieting that kept her from being fit, ignoring others who could have used the help like Naruto did, and worst of all, some of the tendencies she had as a fangirl. Including stalking. And even a small shrine in her closet.

_When we get back from the exams...I'm destroying all evidence of that. These two must never know… _Sakura thought.

Heck, she was tempted to find a way to go back in time just so she could slap her past self.

Before they could continue embarrassing the poor girl, as well as Naruto who was going to ask them to stop, the memory played out.

From the stairwell that entered the main living room, a young Sasuke came down the stairs. They presumed that this was probably a bit before the massacre.

"Morning Tou-chan, Kaa-chan."

A beautiful woman with long, dark blue hair wearing an apron stepped out of the kitchen as she told her daughter "Good morning Sasuke." though she also sent a light glare at the man over at the couch for some reason.

The man, who had mid-length black hair and an angular face simply waved at his second child, not seeming to care much.

The group reacted to this in different ways.

Sakura commented "Wow, Sasuke's mother is beautiful."

Haku added "And the father...something tells me I wouldn't like him."

"Well from what I remember back when I was in my previous host, Mikoto Uchiha was probably one of the very VERY few Uchiha I didn't mind...the father on the other hand...give it a moment." The Kyuubi replied to the both of them.

Naruto oddly enough, was quiet. He looked like he was trying to remember something.

_Why does this version of Sasuke look so...familiar?_

The young Sasuke didn't really seem to be bothered much as she went over to the kitchen table where her mother set the young Uchiha's breakfast.

As she sat down, she looked over at her mother and asked "Kaa-san, where's Itachi nii-san?"

Mikoto simply smiled as she said "Well he went off on a mission early this morning, so he'll probably be back later."

Sasuke simply pouted, which all the members of Team 7 and the Kyuubi found adorable.

"He said he was gonna teach me some more shuriken things today! Stupid missions preventing him from being with me, his little si-"

At this point though, the man on the couch said "Brother."

Sasuke looked at him and replied "Bu-"

But the man cut him off again as he spoke "I said brother. Understood?"

Mikoto simply sighed as she said "Fugaku, you don't have to treat her like that, she's your daughter."

Fugaku glared at her, and replied "No, he is not. I have two sons. I will not have a weak hearted daughter in my family. Women are weak. Thus Sasuke is my son...not as good as his older brother is, but still my son."

At this point the group glared at the man. And the Kyuubi said "And there it is."

Haku commented "Ugh, sexist bastard."

Sakura added on "He forced his daughter to act as a guy because he thought we're weak? I'm so happy I never met him."

Naruto even responded with "If he thinks girls are weak, he's an idiot. I know well enough how scary an angry woman is. Plus Kyuubi, who literally wrecked the village, is female, it's literally the middle finger to all sexism "

Kyuubi replied to him "Well, at least you know better."

Mikoto sighed as she knew this conversation wasn't going anywhere, and Sasuke had her head down in shame, a shame forced on her by her father.

"_Sometimes I wish I wasn't born a girl. Maybe then Tou-san wouldn't force me to act like one and always be so mean to me…" _

After Fugaku left for work, Mikoto simply gave her daughter a hug and told her "It's okay. I know your father is a bit of a jerk, but I'm sure he'll come around eventually when you become a strong and beautiful kunoichi."

"_At least kaa-san believes in me!"_

Sasuke nodded and with a smile said "Thank you Kaa-san!"

The woman then handed the girl her backpack and lunch for the day before Sasuke then left the house. Though not without one more thought.

"_Sigh, another day at school acting like a boy. At least I've made a friend or two."_

"At least the mother is nice." Haku commented with a bit of a smile.

Naruto said "Still annoyed at that prick she calls dad though. If I knew about this, I would have pranked him to kingdom come."

Haku, and funny enough Sakura too, replied "And I would have helped."

Naruto ended up doing a double take, and said "Wait Sakura, seriously?"

Sakura deadpanned as she said "Naruto, you do realize it's basically his fault Sasuke pretended to be a guy and I ended up as a Fangirl to Sasuke, right? So indirectly, it's his fault...and I want revenge...but that isn't going to happen."

The Kyuubi made a sagely nod as she added "Ah yes, among the many other fangirls Sasuke had when acting like a boy."

The Kyuubi then walked towards the front door as she spoke "Alright let's continue, we aren't too far now."

The group then followed the fox woman through the next door.

The next place they stepped into was in fact, the hallway of the same house, but now it was night instead of day, and they could see the young Sasuke peeping a little through the panel door, which the rest of them did as well.

Inside Fugaku and a black haired youth that had two lines on his face were having a discussion.

Sakura noted to the others "That must be Itachi. Sasuke's older brother."

"Itachi, why did you miss the clan meeting yesterday?" Fugaku said in a stern voice.

The boy simply looked at his father as he replied with an equally stern voice, "I had a mission in Anbu yesterday. Thus I could not attend."

Fugaku sighed "Very well. Remember though, you are the lifeline between us and the village. Shisui too, but you play a far greater role. You must do what is necessary for the clan."

Itachi nodded before a small smirk appeared on his face before he said "Sasuke, go to bed. It's late."

Sasuke blushed out of embarrassment and snuck back to her room. Itachi seemed to have a genuine smile on his lips, while his father looked a bit annoyed about how his second child overheard them.

The group thought it was a bit of a nice moment, but they couldn't help but ponder on what they were speaking of. However, the Kyuubi motioned for them to move onwards, and entered the door to Sasuke's room.

Next they found themselves in a forest clearing, where Sasuke was sitting on a tree trunk. A bit away was Itachi who was standing still, much like a spring ready to be sprung.

What happened next was an amazing display of skill in shurikenjutsu and acrobatics as Itachi jumped up into the air and sent shuriken flying, some even hitting each other, in order to hit the targets set up all over the clearing, including one behind a rock.

"Damn he's awesome! I wanna do that!" Naruto beamed the man as his eyes were replaced with stars.

Sakura noted "Huh, is it just me, or does good looks seem to run from their mom's side of the family?"

"Likely." Haku added to that.

Sasuke was also excited about how her brother did that as she went over to him.

"That was great Nii-San! You even hit the target behind the rock!"

Itachi smiled as he said "Well, I'm glad my little display pleased you Sasuke-chan."

"Hey, I thought dad didn't like it when you call me that?"

Itachi had an amused expression on his face as he replied "And he isn't here now, and we're not in public, are we?"

Sasuke gave him a bright smile and asked "So when are you going to teach me that? Can we do it right now!?"

Itachi walked a bit closer to her, went down to eye level, and then poked her on the forehead with his finger. He told her "Sorry, maybe next time little sister."

Sasuke pouted before she drew out her own shuriken as she said "Well watch this!"

What happened next was a pitiful display, resulting in Sasuke spraining her ankle, to which Itachi sighed and after a bit of first aid, picked her up on his back and headed home.

Of course, throughout all this, Naruto, the Kyuubi, and haku were laughing their asses off, while Sakura simply facepalmed. However as the siblings left, the Kyuubi told them "Alright alright, let's follow them."

The team then followed them back towards their house, and just as they were about to reach it, they were confronted by three ninja from the Uchiha Clan. Just the looks on their faces made the genin feel a little uneasy.

"Itachi, we need to speak with you about Shisui Uchiha."

* * *

**Naruto: Wow your dad's a bit of a prick.**

**Sasuke: True. Even in the series canon he's a bit of an ass.**

**Kakashi: Agreed, considering Sensei worked with him directly.**

**Minato: Oh come on, he's not that bad.**

**Sakura points to a pile of evidence Sasuke put on the table.**

**Minato: ...okay you've got a point.**

**Kyuubi: Blond bastard, why do you think Mikoto was slightly disappointed when you married Kushina?**

**Minato: Oh right, what you mentioned before -.-**

**Itachi: From what I remember Minato-san, he wasn't as bad until the Kyuubi incident if that makes you feel better.**

**WVH: Well, I'm just gonna say we wrap this little comments up here. I hope you all enjoyed the chapter everyone! Be sure to R&R as well as come back for the next chapter that will finish this little mini arc for Sasuke! Also for those of you wondering, the name I picked out for female Sasuke will be in there too! **

**(And before anyone mentions it, I'm not using the name Satsuki. That's already been used before by another writer.)**


	10. Chapter 10: Light in the Dark

**Guess what, I managed to get another chapter of this all written up! Yay! And its the end of this little mini arc of diving into Sasuke's, or what her name actually is in this story, memories. I will say though this chapter is where things REALLY start to differ from cannon, mainly being one it at the end, as well as the consequences of their actions, mainly cuz Orochimaru. Now in any case, I hope you all enjoy. And of course you all know the drill of what's next.**

**DISCLAIMER****: I will say this as many times as it takes to keep the copyright Nazis off. I do not own Naruto or anything from the series. Those belong to ****Masashi Kishimoto, Shueisha, Viz Media, TV Tokyo Co., and Shonen Jump, and other content creators. HOWEVER, I do own the story itself and any custom jutsus I come up with. Now let's jump in!**

* * *

Chapter 10: Light in the Dark

_Inside Sasuke's Mindscape_

"Itachi, we need to speak with you about Shisui Uchiha." a ninja that had the Uchiha creast on his shoulder asked Itachi.

Naruto, Haku, Sakura, and the Kyuubi were watching one of Sasuke's memories play out so that they could find the door to the next memory. At the moment, they were standing to the side as Itachi, with his little sister on his back, was confronted by three Uchiha ninja. Well, not that anyone else knew besides Fugaku and Mikoto at that time Team 7 assumed, based on Fugaku's attitude about it previously.

"What is it? Did something has something happened?" Itachi replied.

"Only two Uchiha missed last meeting. Why didn't you come?"

Itachi calmly answered "I was on mission at the time. But I understand, I will be more careful from now on"

One of the Uchihas stepped up, and spoke "This is regarding the other who did not make the meeting. Shisui Uchiha. His body was found in the Nakano River this morning. He had left behind a suicide note. We want to ask you about that."

Itachi looked downwards. While Sasuke came to terms with what was spoken.

"_S-Shisui nii-san is dead? From suicide? But why?"_

"I haven't had the chance to see him recently. It's unfortunate." Itachi replied.

The last of the three pulled out the note, and gave it to the Uchiha, explaining the brisk of what was written.

"However, it's possible for a Sharingan user to perfectly mimic Shisui's handwriting and write the note, so we would like you to request the Anbu to help us with the investigation." The first of the three Uchiha said.

"I understand." Itachi replied, a bit of anger in his voice.

The three started to walk away before his tightened the grip of the note and put Sasuke down on the ground.

"Why don't you just come out and say it?...that you suspect me?"

The three Uchiha then turned around, and their Sharingan met with his.

The fight that proceeded afterwards was quick, and, as noted by Haku, efficient. Itachi had single handedly disabled the three Uchiha. Itachi and one of the downed ninja seemed to have a heated conversation, before Fugaku showed up.

"Calm down Itachi." he ordered with a stern look on his face.

Itachi then grabbed a kuni, much to his father's shock before he tossed it at the Uchiha symbol on the wall.

One of the Uchiha got himself off the ground as he said "That's enough. If you keep this going, we'll have to take you to jail."

Itachi glared at them before Sasuke yelled "Nii-san! Stop it already, please!"

Itachi turned around to where Sasuke was, and with a short breath, cooled himself down. He then prostrated himself onto the ground and told them "It is not I who killed Shisui...but for my words and actions, I deeply apologize."

Fugaku let out his breath, satisfied with that as he told Itachi "Let's go inside, Itachi."

Fugaku then went towards the door, but first grabbed Sasuke by her ear.

"Uchiha men do not need to plead. Understood?" He said in her ear.

She nodded and he let her go, his actions unnoticed by the three Uchiha who had already begun to walk away.

However, as Fugaku walked away, Itachi glared at his back with his Sharingan ablaze, and moreso, the 3 tomoe pattern changed into a shuriken like shape.

"_What...what is that Sharingan?"_

The team looked on quite unnerved at the situation, also curious about what Sasuke mentioned in her thoughts. It was the Kyuubi that answered their question.

"Those eyes are the Mangekyo Sharingan. You can think of it as the stage about the 3rd tomoe of their blasted eyes. Ugh just looking at them makes me want to blow something up!"

"What's so special about them?" Naruto asked her.

The redhead fox woman sighed "Essentially they give the user new abilities, one in each eye as well as one that uses both eyes in tandem. These can be things such as the Amaterasu I told you about before, as well as strengthening the base abilities of the sharingan. Which includes their stupid fucking genjutsu of theirs!"

Sakura asked her "Are you okay?"

The Kyuubi reined in her hatred, and spoke "Well, it's because of them casting their bullshit level genjutsu that's I've been controlled not just once, but twice! Heck, it's because of what they made me do that your annoying little village locked me up!"

Naruto then told her "It's okay Kyuubi. We understand."

Haku then came up with a dark joke to try and cheer her up.

"Well...at least now there's only like...three Uchiha left?"

The others looked at her a bit baffled, but the Kyuubi laughed as she spoke "True enough. Guess that's a silver lining for me!"

The other two decided to let her have that. They would rather have a happy Beast of Mass Destruction than a pissed off one on their hands.

It was then the Kyuubi dropped the bombshell on them.

"In any case though, the Mangekyo does come with a price. Constant use can lead to blindness and worse...in order to activate it, you must suffer mental agony...such as if one killed their best friend."

This caused the three genin's eyes to become wide open.

"Wait, then did Itachi really kill that Shisui guy!?" Naruto asked. Haku and Sakura also wanted to know.

However, the Kyuubi simply shook her head and spoke "About that, even if it's only a memory, I can sense negative emotions, including the one that comes with lying...what is strange though is that Itachi was telling the truth when he told them he didn't kill Shisui."

Haku replied "Quite a conundrum. We should get going though, the longer Orochimaru has to toy with Sasuke, the worse things might get."

The group nodded, and afterwards followed the Kyuubi to the door that Fugaku, Sasuke, and Itachi went into moments before.

The next place they arrived at was the Konoha streets at night. Before any of them could say anything, they spotted a Sasuke running towards the Uchiha District.

"Oh man! Tou-san is going to kill me! Maybe he'll be nicer about it if I say I practiced shurikenjutsu, which I did...but ah! I need to hurry!"

The four found it a bit funny, but couldn't really laugh as they felt something off about the atmosphere, something bad.

The group then ran behind Sasuke. As they ran, both the Kyuubi and Naruto sensed a presence up above, and saw the silhouette of a ninja above.

"Is that Itachi!?" Naruto yelled.

The Kyuubi replied "Likely so."

Sasuke noticed Itachi's presence, only for him to not be there the moment later.

Sakura's eyes opened wide as she realized what night this was.

"T-this is the night o-"

However she was cut off as Naruto spoke "I can hear...screams...and the smell of lots of blood."

The group then dashed faster, just as Sasuke in front of them did the same.

As they arrived at the Uchiha district, they saw the bodies of many of the Uchiha clansmen all over the place. All taken out with single, fatal strikes. And the blood, the amount of blood would have made Sakura and Naruto throw up their lunches. The two were glad that right now they were mental projections of themselves rather than their physical bodies. They would have lost their lunch otherwise.

They found themselves in the middle of the Uchiha Massacre.

Sasuke meanwhile ran down the streets, yelling the names of the clansmen she knew, only for there to be no answer, save for some of their bodies being in the open for her to know they were dead.

In her fear for her family, she then ran into the house.

As they ran, The Kyuubi noticed something strange. She swore she could hear fighting in another location, and in the house she could hear Itachi speak something she never thought the supposed clan killer would say.

"I'm sorry..."

_Seems there is more hidden about the Massacre than I suspected_ she thought. What the rest of the team didn't know was that Minato asked the fox to complete a second objective.

To see if she could find anything that could tell them why the massacre happened.

She was brought out of her musings as they entered the house.

For a moment, they all felt a strange sensation. The Kyuubi then told them "We're here! I can smell that snake's stench now!"

The group nodded and ran behind Sasuke, all of which were ready for a fight.

Sasuke came across an open door, along with Team 7, who were still invisible as they had not changed anything yet.

Only to see Itachi cut his parents down, right in front of Sasuke.

Itachi stood tall, staring at his younger sibling. However, despite their shock, Naruto and the Kyuubi also noticed something that was hard to tell at first glance.

There was a dried tear or two on the clan slayer's face. While it puzzled the genin, the Kyuubi on the other hand started to get a hypothesis to form in her head.

However, they didn't have the time to worry about that right now.

"Itachi...what..what did you do!?"

Itachi stared at him as he cooly spoke "I killed them."

Sasuke screamed at him "WHY!? WHY did you do it Nii-san!?"

"To test my ability."

All of the group thought that was bullshit. Something was fishy. It was then a voice spoke.

"That's right Sasuke-kun. He simply killed your family, your friends, all just to test his power. You want revenge don't you? You want power don't you?"

The group looked around before the Kyuubi spotted it and yelled "There!"

They noticed a small white snake on Sasuke's shoulder. It spoke into Sasuke's ear, attempting to speak whispers of power and glory to her.

Haku nodded and sent a senbon towards it, causing it to look back and realize in fear that someone else had invaded the young Uchiha's mind at the worst time. It quickly batted away the senbon...but was not prepared for Naruto to come in and tackle Sasuke to the ground.

The reason being was that he was also paying attention to the ongoing memory, and noticed Itachi's eyes change as well as talk about showing her something.

He thought back to what the Kyuubi told him previously, about the sharingan controlling her before. For once in his life he immediately understood what that meant.

Genjutsu.

As he guessed Itachi was about to toss her in one, he quickly tackled Sasuke to the ground, making her line of sight no longer with Itachi's...but now Naruto's was. And he was now visible to them.

The memory Itachi was surprised at this...but it was already too late as the Genjutsu activated.

As Naruto was hit with the genjutsu, the Kyuubi quickly grabbed the white snake with her hand and glared at it point blank.

"You dare to mess with life the way you do things Orochimaru, now BURN!"

The snake was then set alight, it screamed in Orochimaru's voice as it was destroyed.

Despite their mission being a success, there was another problem.

"Naruto!" the girls yelled as he fell to the floor.

* * *

_Inside the Tsukuyomi_

Naruto found himself on the Uchiha District's street, and the ground was black while a red moon hung up in the air.

"What the hell?" he said out loud.

"That is something I would like to say for myself...Naruto-kun."

Naruto turned around to see Itachi standing behind him. However, he was not showing a single sign of hostility. So Naruto felt no reason to fight. But he did want answers.

"Itachi, were you going to do to Sasuke?"

However, Itachi frowned for a moment and said "You mean what 'did' I do?"

Naruto was a bit confused at what he just said before he elaborated.

"Naruto-kun. I know this is merely Sasuke's memories. I merely set a portion of my chakra in here as a back-up just in case. Though thank you for taking care of that snake, I hadn't sensed it until the last moment."

Naruto scratched the back of his head, but then yelled "Hey! You didn't answer my question!"

Itachi simply smiled as he said "Right of course, you were always a 'get to the point' kind of child. Essentially I was going to have her relive the massacre from my eyes...with a few things left out."

"Why?"

Itachi sighed "The truth is, I want her to kill me."

"What!?" Naruto screamed in surprise.

Itachi nodded and continued.

"I wanted her to hate me, and to activate her Sharingan, so that someday, she could bring honor back to the clan by defeating the one that slayed her clan."

However, Naruto saw there was more to this and asked him.

"Why did you do it? I know there's something else going on here...you were crying."

Itachi's eyes widened in surprise. He then smiled and he spoke "I see...I suppose that form of yours must have improved your senses. And relax, I won't tell anyone."

Naruto looked at him at first in shock that he could see the fox ears and tail, but breathed in relief that he wouldn't sell him out.

Itachi then tolf him "As for the truth though...I will not tell you."

"Oh come on!"

"Relax Naruto-kun. Let me finish" he said with a wave of his hand, and with a short 'mm-hmm', he spoke again.

"However, if you are insistent on learning what truly happened from me that night...then when you and Sasuke are strong enough, find me, and prove you can withstand the darkness that comes with the truth."

Naruto nodded and with a cheeky smile said "Alright then, I'll kick your ass someday and be the light in dark for Sasuke then! That's a promise Dattebayo!"

Itachi smiled, as he felt sure that this boy meant what he said. He then looked around and noticed the genjutsu start to crack.

"It seems our time is up. We will meet again before long. And beware of the masked Uchiha."

Naruto nodded, considering he might be talking about the same Uchiha who released the Kyuubi previously.

Just as the genjutsu was about to end, Itachi also added.

"Also, if you make my little sister cry, expect no mercy from me."

Naruto with wide eyes replied "Wait wh-"

And then the genjutsu ended.

* * *

_Sasuke's Mindscape_

Naruto opened his eyes to see both his team bending over him, checking if he was okay. He then looked around to notice that Itachi was gone, and that Sasuke was also leaning over him.

"A-are you okay?" Memory-Sasuke asked him.

Naruto simply grinned as he said "Oh, I'll be fine, I'm tougher than I look."

Sasuke started to cry, tears in her eyes as she asked him "You didn't have to do that for me you big dummy. I don't even know you and Nii-san could have killed you!"

Naruto simply smiled back as he said "Well, I didn't want you to suffer more than you already have...that, and because I'm Naruto Uzumaki, future Hokage! No way am I gonna let a little girl get hurt on my watch!"

Sasuke then smiled as the tears ran down her face.

"Is that so?...then don't let yourself get hurt again, idiot...and thank you."

It was then the entire room turned to white, and memory Sasuke had vanished as well.

The girls then made their remarks.

"While yes, you're an idiot...You're a good kind of idiot...just don't pull that again Naruto." Sakura said before she pulled him up.

The Kyuubi simply grinned. She was quite pleased with what Naruto did, even if it was a member of their filthy clan he protected. But he could sympathize with the girl. Being forced to act as the opposite gender due to the views of society, though for different reasons. But she also couldn't help but sense a bit of familiarity in the girl. But the Kyuubi decided not to worry about it for now. She could figure it out later.

Haku added to Sakura's remark "What you did was a very, very noble act Naruto-kun. Though like Sakura said, a bit reckless...but if you didn't do so, you wouldn't be our Naruto-kun."

"Eheheheh." Naruto replied as he scratched the back of his head.

The Kyuubi then spoke "Well in any case, let's-"

However, the scenery, much to their surprise, changed one last time.

They found themselves on a hill, standing over a lake that had a small pier next to the hill.

Sasuke was sitting on the pier, looking into the water below. She wasn't wearing her usual outfit, but instead looking more girlish, and had her hair in a ponytail in the back.

_"While I hated dad at times...at least making me act and dress like a boy makes it easier to 'disguise' as a girl."_

The girls thought she looked quite cute, Naruto however, was thinking out loud something else.

"Wait a second, I recognize this…"

The group looked at him, minus the Kyuubi since she knew, in a bit of confusion. But their question was answered as they saw a small boy with blond and spiky hair walking down the road with his hands behind his head.

"Wait...is that..Naruto?" Sakura asked in surprise.

The chibi Naruto then looked down towards the girl at the pier, who sat there all alone.

"_My family are all dead...except for my brother who killed them...why Itachi...why did you do it...what should I-"_

At that point the blond came down the hill, walked onto the pier, and sat down next to her and with a smile, asked "Are you okay?"

Sasuke looked at the cheery blond and said "Go away...I want to be alone."

However, the cheery blond didn't give up, but instead asked "Did something bad happen?"

Sasuke simply stayed quiet, she didn't want to be bothered like this.

"You're not alone ya know."

The girl turned his head towards the blond boy who continued.

"Everyone has someone they can share, laugh, and cry with. Don't you have anyone like that?"

Sakura and Haku were shocked. They didn't know that even when he was young that Naruto had the sort of sagely wisdom that sometimes comes out when they're all together. Sakura started to think Naruto was a lot wiser than he sometimes acted. Despite him being an idiot.

Sasuke looked into his eyes for a second before she said "I don't have anyone like that anymore…"

However, the blond smiled as he said "What about me? I can be your friend. Sensei Iruka says I'm a good listener when I want to be!"

Sasuke looked at the blond. His clear blue eyes, his breezy blond hair, and the infectious smile he had. She almost felt as if though the darkness that had been holding her down for the past week faded away. All just from the smile on his face, the words he had spoken, and the feelings behind them.

"_This boy...he's so bright...like a light in the dark…"_

The group smiled before Naruto's eyes went wide open as his memory of this event resurfaced for him.

"Sure!" Sasuke said with a smile on her face. Even chibi Naruto couldn't help but blush a little.

"I'm Naruto Uzumaki! What's your name?"

Sasuke pondered it for a moment, before she let out a thought.

"_Mom always told me she hated that Dad made me use a boy's name...but she did tell me one time what she wanted to name me."_

She then nodded, and just as she spoke her name, the present Naruto also said it as well.

"Asuka./Asuka!?"

Sakura and Haku looked at him questioningly before he told the rest of the group what he remembered.

"I remember this. I found her at the pier one day looking sad and wanted to cheer her up. We ended up spending a week together, hanging out here once a day at this place, before one day she said that she had to go somewhere, and probably wouldn't be back. She told me that if I cared for her, I should find someone else to like, someone that's smart, pretty, and all that...oh my Kami, I forgot this. This...wonderful moment in time I had in my life."

The group found this adorable, before Sakura realized what this meant.

"Oh my Kami...that's why you were always asking me out, weren't you? And maybe all those punches to the head I did to you made you forget why..."

As the scene faded away, with Haku and Kyuubi laughing at Naruto and Sakura's expense, one blushing and the other had facepalmed herself in embarrassment, they felt the tug as they were being pulled out of Sasuke's, or rather Asuka's, mindscape. The last thing they saw was the cheery blond and raven-haired girl laughing and giggling as they spoke to each other.

Naruto made promised that he wouldn't forget that day again, and also made sure to have this image burned into his mind. As well as what she thought at that time about him.

_Her light in the dark...huh?_

* * *

_Elsewhere in the Forest of Death_

Orochimaru, now in his disguise, was waiting for Kabuto by the tower. He was already annoyed that the boy hadn't been up to date with his information, but also from the 2nd degree burns on his arms. He was still mad at himself that out of fear, he forgot that he could have easily dodged that monster of a jutsu with a quick, sealless substitution. However, the damage was done. He even used his jutsu that worked like a snake shedding its skin, and while the minor burns were healed, the damage his arms took were still quite agonizing. He wasn't even sure now if he wanted to experiment on the Kyuubi brat or outright murder him for what he did.

He was brought out of his thoughts as Kabuto walked out of the forest and into the hallway.

"My lord, you requested my presence?" Kabuto asked.

"Yes you se-" Orochimaru began to speak.

However, he was interrupted by an AGONIZING amount of pain he had never felt before, he knelt down to the ground, and clenched his arms as a silent scream came to his mouth.

"Lord Orochimaru!" Kabuto said as he knelt down to try and help his master.

After a moment, the pain faded away, and Orochimaru picked himself up.

However, as the boy saw his eyes, Kabuto couldn't help but shiver in fear.

He had never seen his master so angry before. It was as if though Orochimaru could kill someone with his anger alone.

"Kabuto…"

"Yes Lord Orochimaru?" the boy responded.

"After you resign from the exam, return to Sound immediately, and add someone to the bingo book, and I want them DEAD. Is that clear?"

Kabuto nodded and asked "Who?"

"Naruto Uzumaki."

* * *

_Elsewhere in the Land of Fire_

Two men wearing black cloaks and straw hats were sitting at a dango shop that was next to the road. Under the hats, one would realize that these two were infamous S-class criminals. Itachi Uchiha and Kisame Hoshigaki.

Kisame was telling Itachi a story about the one time he was about against a large amount of hunter nin, only to slaughter them all. And he enjoyed himself as he did so.

_Sigh, he's quite the battle junkie sometimes, but at least he's always straight with me. Much better than dealing with Madara or worse, Danzo. They always seem to be up to something._

Just as a smile came to his face, his eyes widened for a moment as a flash of memories came to him from something he had set up long ago.

"Hey, you okay Itachi?" Kisame asked, noticing the change in expression.

Itachi shook his head and told him "I'm fine Kisame, but thank you for asking."

Kisame simply shrugged and got back into his story, at the part he was literally using one of his opponents as an improvised second weapon.

Itachi smiled, not really to his friend's story, but to the memory of the chakra clone he had set up as a just in case measure for his sister.

_I'll see you soon...imouto...and Naruto._

* * *

**Sakura: Not going to lie Naruto, you may be an idiot, but you do have your good moments.**

**Naruto: Thanks Sakura-chan!...hey wait a second.**

**Haku: Don't worry about it Naruto, you'll get smarter as you mature.**

**Minato: She isn't wrong**

**Naruto: Still though, Asuka huh?**

**Asuka: Yes, that's the name WVH decided to call me.**

**WVH: Yeah kinda took me a while to find and pick one. Choose Asuka since its kanji are Asu, or "to fly", and ka, or "Bird."**

**Minato: Ah, so you chose that one since it had most of its letters being the same as 'Sasuke' and the relation to birds due to the crow summon?**

**WVH: Yep.**

**Kyuubi: Still enjoying the fact we fucked over Orochi-Pedo with this. Oh he is going to be pissed.**

**WVH: Oh I assure you, he's already livid. In any case, to the readers, I hope you all enjoyed the chapter! Be sure to R&R and come back for when next chapter pops up!**

**Some white haired guy with purple eyes: So, when are you updating our story?**

**WVH: Dammit Add! Not now!**


	11. Chapter 11: Poor Sound Ninja

**Hey what do you know, I managed to get one more chapter done, yay! And for those of you waiting to watch sound ninja get their asses kicked, have no fear, for it here!**

**Also, a reply to one recent comment. Naruto isn't exactly an animal at this point. He's still human, but now has a fox tail and ears and heightened senses, so he can still technically procreate and have a family...not that I'll be tossing in lemons mind you. They tend to draw too much attention away from the actual story more than often. I would just google search a fox earred and tailed Naruto and put that as the cover...but I don't want the artist to come and find me and ask me for money via copyright.**

**Now with that out of the way...I need to get something else out of the way.**

**DISCLAIMER: Okay, short and sweet, I don't own Naruto, that stuff belongs to its respective owners I've mentioned every other chapter. Other than that, I own the story and techniques I create. Now on with the story!**

* * *

Chapter 11: Poor Sound Ninja

_Forest of Death, Konohagakure, Land of Fire_

The three genin opened their eyes, and looked to see the Naruto clone that was possessed by Naruto with a smile on his face as the curse mark on Asuka's shoulder disappeared. He then looked at them with Naruto's bright blue eyes.

"Well, since I was able to remove the seal, you guys managed to succeed your mission. Good job." He said as he then gave each of them a bit of a headpat.

Naruto, Sakura, and Haku felt it a bit weird since in looks, it was Naruto's clone doing that, but since they knew it was Minato, they were happy with the complement.

"So, what else happen in there? Other than the Kyuubi finally being clear about her gender?" Minato spoke with a grin.

"_Oh shut up blond bastard. You got your own secrets that you haven't told them either!" _the Kyuubi spoke in her feminine voice. She felt there was no point in faking her voice since the only two people who could hear her at the moment both knew her gender, and didn't act like she was a beast to either be hated or contained like the rest of the humans. So she tolerated them for the moment...but she also wanted to see just what they would do in the world...but she wouldn't admit that anytime soon.

Naruto chuckled a little at the jab and Kyuubi's response, and then told his father "Well where do we start?"

Haku picked up on the cue first "Well, we learned Fugaku was the one who made Sasuke dress and act like a male."

Minato sighed "Really? Sigh, I knew he was a bit sexist, but he wasn't that bad. Perhaps he got worse after I died."

Sakura went next and spoke "Apparently Naruto met Sasuke, er Asuka, once before they were young, and Naruto here didn't recognize her in the academy and I may have accidentally hit him enough times he forgot until recently."

Naruto retorted "Hey! She looked and acted a lot different in comparison. How could I not assume Sasuke was a different person!"

Minato let out a sweatdrop as he said "Well things like that happen...and Sakura, just try to not hit him too hard next time then?"

"Fine...still hitting him if he does something stupid." Sakura replied.

"Well, anything else?" Minato asked.

Naruto finally got his turn...and let's just say, everyone had a 'WTF' face.

"Well, when I took Tsukuyomi for the memory form of Asuka, I actually ended up meeting a sort of clone Itachi had put in her mind as a safety measure. He admitted that he wanted her to become strong enough to kill him and avenge the clan, but as to why he did it. He wouldn't tell me, but instead said if we want the truth, we'll have to beat it out of him. Heck, I made him a promise on that Dattebayo!"

"Wait, WHAT!?"

The group turned to see an awake Asuka,who had returned to consciousness in the middle of Naruto retorting to Sakura. The first thing she noticed was her shirt was gone, thus she knew, much to her annoyance her gender was revealed. But then Naruto said something that she just HAD TO confirm. She grabbed Naruto as she asked him in rapid fire "Are you telling the truth Naruto!? Did Nii-San really plan to make me some sort of avenger out of his guilt or something? And why is NOW you remember the actual me!? JUST WHAT HAPPENED WHILE I WAS OUT!? TELL ME!"

Naruto was being shaken as Asuka asked her questions, a slight bit of panic and annoyance mixed in her face, leading to the rest of the group simply have a bit of a dry laugh. This was definitely not the Sasuke they knew before.

"Stop shaking me Asuka-chan and I'll talk!" Naruto yelled. Asuka stopped shaking him and let out a sigh. She really was hoping that it would be a time she could explain it on her own terms, but now they had somehow not only learned her secret, but even more than she thought.

Naruto then answered her by telling them just what happened after she had been bitten by Orochimaru right up to where they saw her moment with a young Naruto. By the end, her face was as red as a tomato. They literally knew just about every important aspect of her life at this point. Heck, they even got front seats to her most cherished memory, the moment she fell hard for the blond. It was also the root to her one regret. That in order to keep her gender secret so that the council wouldn't try to make her a baby making machine, she had to quit going out as a girl. And she had an image to keep up as 'Sasuke Uchiha'. And even more so, she tried to be very unfriendly with Naruto, since she knew at a young age he was quite a loudmouth and would have caught onto her if she acted more friendly.

Only good thing was the civilian council didn't have as much leverage on her since she was now an official ninja. She decided to take that silver lining for now.

"Well, I suppose that's fine then...also...Naruto-kun?" She said while the blond was still in her grip. Eyes staring right into his.

"Ye-yes Asuka-chan?" he replied...before she then initiated a kiss with him. As a result, Sakura watched with mouth wide open in shock, Haku raised her eyebrows since she hadn't expected that, Minato chuckled as he expected that to happen sooner or later, and the Kyuubi laughed as she literally guessed that would happen when they came back out.

She then pulled away from them, leaving Naruto to let out "...w-wow."

"You have no idea how long I wanted to do that." Asuka said with a smile on her face.

The two seemed to have a moment before Minato let out a cough, which reminded them of their audience. Asuka quickly let go of the boy and looked away with a red face. Naruto was doing the same in the other direction.

Minato then said with a bit of a grin "Well, while I wouldn't mind grandchildren, you're still young, so I say take it slow. Now in any case, I'll make my leave for the moment. See ya!" He then dispelled the clone himself, breaking his connection to the outside and his conscious returned to the seal within.

"Dad!" Naruto yelled in embarrassment. Haku let out a short giggle, Sakura still in a slight bit of shock, and Asuka pouted.

Naruto then looked back towards Asuka and asked her "So...can we call you Asuka-chan, or Sasuke?"

"Since you all know...Asuka in private, Sasuke in public. I wanted to make a better reputation before I let people know about...the real me. That way those pricks in the council wouldn't get stupid ideas...stupid CRA." Asuka replied.

The two girls nodded as they knew about that law, Haku especially. She was still quite grateful that Lord Third managed to keep that from happening to her.

Meanwhile Naruto asked the dumb question.

"And that would be?"

Asuka sighed and then whispered into his ears just what the CRA was. As a result, it became his turn to turn red as a tomato, much to the girls' amusement.

Naruto then shook his head and said "Well don't worry! If I have to, I'll initiate the the biggest prank war Konoha has ever seen in order to keep them off!"

* * *

_Elsewhere in the village_

The entire civilian council felt a shiver down their spines. As if though the demon fox itself was standing behind them with a huge grin on its mouth. They all looked behind them and calmed down when nothing was there...for now.

* * *

_Back at the forest_

Asuka let out a giggle as she responded "I know you would. You're a Hokage of his word, right?"

Naruto also gave her a big grin.

Haku then walked over to them as she said "Speaking of keeping their word…"

Haku then quickly grabbed the boy's head and kissed him as well, much to the others' surprise...save for Kyuubi who was laughing her ass off and Minato wondering how his son would handle this.

"What the hell Haku!?" Asuka said in surprise.

Haku pulled away and replied "I may not have known him as long, but I love this boy just as much as you do. He saved my life and spent time with me with both of us enjoying each others' company. So don't think you can hog him."

Asuka then in confusion said "Wait, what do you mean?"

Haku then went over to the Uchiha girl's ear and whispered.

"The CRA goes two ways right? And Naruto is part of a near extinct clan, right? Think about it."

Asuka then smiled and said "Fair enough...I set the ground rules though, deal?"

Haku and Asuka then shook hands. Meanwhile Naruto was still a bit out of it after he had been kissed by not one, but two women.

As for Sakura, she was still trying to put together just what the heck happened. First Asuka turned out to be a girl that liked Naruto and kissed him for what was actually the second time. Then Haku also ended up liking him and made out with the boy and made some sort of bargain with Asuka.

_What the heck...I know he's gotten stronger and has his moments, but what the heck!? Me falling for him or something? Or even another girl showing her interest? _She thought.

* * *

_Inside the Tower, Forest of Death, Konohagakure, Land of Fire_

"Achoo!"

Hinata was in their room as she sneezed for the second time today.

She looked around and was happy that at least no one else was in the room. Kiba was exploring the tower, and Shino had went to check what they had in the mess hall.

_I really hope that's Naruto talking good things about me, and not someone insulting me _the bluenette thought.

But what was strange to her is what she was feeling at this time.

"Why do I feel both annoyed and happy at the same time?"

No one would ever know though, not even Hinata herself, that she had said that with no stutters whatsoever...except maybe Kami.

* * *

_Back with Team 7_

Sakura then broke out of her musings as Sasuke put back on her shirt, and couldn't help but realize there was a reason she wore both the bandages and high collar. It was to hide her cleavage, and it worked quite well, much like Haku did by wearing multiple layers of clothing.

And even though they were under bandages, she could tell they were bigger than hers, much to her annoyance.

_Why is it that half of the ninja we meet have bigger boobs?...wait could it be the dieting? Have I been hampering my growth that much!? _She thought as she basically realized her dieting had screwed her over even more than she figured.

However, the Team was broken out of their musings as they heard an explosion outside.

"What was that?" Asuka asked, back to using her 'Sasuke' tone.

Naruto answered her "I think that was one of the traps me and dad set up."

"Likely. Let's go see." Haku commented.

The group then came out of the hollowed out tree to see the three Sound ninja from the beginning of the exam dodging a barrage of shuriken.

"WHO THE FUCK SEALS THAT MANY SHURIKEN FOR A TRAP!" a male with spiky and gravity defying black hair yelled as he dodged what was basically a seal that acted as a shuriken machine gun.

"JUST KEEP DODGING DUMBASS!" the one kunoichi on their team yelled. Her hair was long, with the bottom brought together by a bow.

The traps then stopped before they looked at a group of 4 genins, the ones they were told to fight. One of them they couldn't help but do a double take on. But after seeing some of Orochimaru's experiments...they decided they've seen weirder.

"What do you guys want? We all know you work for Orochimaru." 'Sasuke' said in annoyance. She was already a bit high strung from the string of events that stemmed from the Snake Sannin. She really didn't want more problems to deal with after her secret had been revealed to her team.

The bandaged widened his eyes before he then spoke "Oh really? Then I'll make this easier for you then. Sasuke Uchiha, fight us. It's what we were asked to do."

Asuka would have gladly went over there to kick his ass, but she was still weakened due to the lingering effects of the curse mark. They wouldn't be around for much longer, but she knew it would hamper her ability to fight for the moment.

Of course the 'dobe' stood up for her.

"Oh yeah? I bet I could kick your ass instead!"

The spiky haired one replied "That right blondie? I bet you would go down easy. Seriously, what kind of ninja wears orange? Or heck, I bet the pinky there is even worse! I heard kunoichis are crap in your year! I bet you can't do jack shit!"

Naruto was about to go at him, and Haku to support him. But then Sakura grabbed both of their shoulders, with her eyes shadowed by her hair. Naruto shivered a little at that.

She then moved past them and started cracking her knuckles.

"Alright, first I have to deal with Orochimaru making my training seem pointless, then I have one of my main goals shattered, then I learn the teammate I thought was an idiot can actually think and somehow ends up with two women interested in him, and NOW you insult me…"

Even Haku and Asuka couldn't help but shiver and Naruto started backing away from the pinkette. They had only seen her this mad once during a mission. It was something that Kakashi hadn't been present for, but had seen the aftermath.

They knew this was not going to be pretty.

Dosu noticed their actions and started to wonder just what Zaku had unleashed upon them.

Sakura then spoke once more.

"I'm going to beat you. I'm going to use you three to vent all the stress I've built up. And just to be sure...I'll even use the power of youth."

Haku then said "...well...I feel bad for those three now…"

Zaku cocked an eyebrow at the ice user a bit confused before Sakura spoke one last time.

"Gate of Opening, Gate of Healing, Gate of Pain, OPEN!"

It was there all hell broke loose.

* * *

_The Tower, Forest of Death, Konohagakure, Land of Fire_

Kakashi had his visible eye open as he looked at guy in shock.

"YOU WHAT!?"

Gai in shame spoke "I said I taught her about the Inner Gates! I wanted to give her a bit of a reward for her successful training. I only taught her about the theoretical aspect, but I didn't think she would figure out how to use them from there! She even figured out how to open up to the Fourth Gate on her own!"

"Are you insane!? You know what that can do to the body!" Kakashi yelled at Gai, but Gai then said something that scared the daylights out of him.

"That's the thing...she figured out a regeneration jutsu that can work after opening at least two of the gates...with it...she can negate the effects up to the fourth gate…"

Kakashi was silent as the grave...before he spoke.

"Dear Kami...I must never make her angry ever again...and I feel only pity for the poor souls that do."

* * *

_With Rock Lee_

Rock Lee was doing a bit of self-training after a bit of scouting. In which he was trying to catch all the leaves that fell from the tree he just kicked. But just as he was about to kick the last one, he felt a sudden influx of recognizable chakra.

While he had bad chakra coils, he could at least sense recognizable chakras. And he could only do so with three, his teammates originally. But during the month of training, he came to be able to sense Sakura's.

While he knew she probably wouldn't need help if she was releasing that much, he at least wanted to watch. And knowing Neji, he was pretty sure he would as well. And while the Hyuuga would never admit it, he was pretty sure Neji knew well enough to not TRULY piss off the pinkette. They could get away with some of team Gai's normal shenanigans. But all of team Gai straight up agreed on one thing.

If Sakura was angry and started pulling out the gates...she was stronger than Lee AND Neji.

And just as he thought about it, Neji came out of the woods behind him and asked him "So...I'm guessing we're going to check on Sakura and whatever poor fools managed to anger her?"

Lee responded "Of course! She is amazing to watch when she decides to use the power of youth!...as long as it isn't on us..."

* * *

_With Team 10_

Ino, Shikamaru, and Choji happened to come across the confrontation between the Sound nins and Team 7 after following the sound of an explosive. Shikamaru didn't want to go, but Ino was curious about who was nearby, and said if they were lucky, they could probably get a scroll out of it. And of course Choji wasn't really helping him since he was satisfied with eating his chips.

However, what they did not expect was for Sakura to walk up in front of them, talk about her recent annoyances, about how she was going to use the Sound nin to vent, and then suddenly spike to HIGH HELL in chakra. Heck they saw her skin turn red too, so that clearly wasn't normal.

Just as their mouths hit the floor in shock, Sakura in high speed disappeared, only to reappear as she drop kicked the spiky sound nin in the stomach, sending the poor bastard flying, only for her to beat him to where he was flying and then punch him straight in the center of his back, breaking his spine. The boy flew back towards where he was before and landed on the ground, unconscious from the pain.

"When the FUCK could she do that!? Last I checked, she had no muscle whatsoever!" Ino said to her team in shock.

Shikamaru shrugged and said "Well, I did hear that she had been visiting Team Gai in the last month or something."

Ino, the rumor mill herself, knew many things, including Team Gai, especially since one of the handsome guys that interested her was part of it, Neji Hyuuga. But she had also heard their sensei was a taijutsu training nut.

"How the heck would she survive training with Gai?" Ino said.

At this point a boy with green spandex, who Ino recognized as Rock Lee since the boy was one of Neji's teammates.

Rock Lee answered her question with "Well, she had a hard time at first, but eventually she pushed through, and gained the power of youth!"

Ino deadpanned and with sarcasm replied "Right, youth…"

However another thought went into her mind as she saw her rival/former friend then catch the sound kunoichi's senbon and toss them right back at her before then knocking her out with a controlled punch in the face.

_Have I been taking my training as a ninja too lightly?_

* * *

_With Team 7_

The group could only watch with pity and terror after Sakura knocked out the second of the three sound ninja. One had their spine broken, the other would likely have a broken nose for life, and the last one left was shaking in his boots.

"Man Sakura-chan is REALLY scary when she actually snaps." Naruto remarked.

"Agreed, it's also why I know when to stop teasing the girl." Haku commented.

Asuka simply nodded, as nothing else needed to be said.

Sakura then moved her gaze towards the last of the Sound ninja, Dosu.

The man was shaking in terror, they had clearly underestimated their chances here, and Zaku just had to make things even worse for them. He then in panic yelled "Wait please I surrender!"

Sakura simply started walking towards him, her fists still clenched.

"U-um I can give you our scroll!" he spoke as he quickly pulled out a scroll of earth.

She walked closer.

"I even have a scroll of Heaven we took from another team earlier!" he said as he dropped the Earth scroll on the ground and pulled out a Heaven scroll.

However Sakura simply walked up to him until she stared right at his face point blank.

"M-mercy?" Dosu whimpered.

Sakura then smiled for a moment, which gave Dosu a sense of safety…

Only for her to then uppercut him in the balls.

"UUUGGGGHHH!" All the males in the vicinity, minus the unconscious Zaku, winced as the man's poor poor balls were probably so messed up that they would never work ever again.

As Dosu fell to the ground, now unconscious, Sakura let out a deep breath as she closed the gates back up, returned to her normal state, and then turned back towards her team as dusted off her hands.

"There we go, I feel so much better after that. And they had both scrolls too." she said with a smile.

Ino at this point decided should she have to fight Sakura later...to just forfeit. Even if Sasuke was quite a looker, there was no way in hell she wanted to fight that.

Team 7 then went to grab the two scrolls, and Naruto also paid respects to the man's now destroyed balls.

May they find peace.

It was at this point he spoke out loud. "Okay, I know you guys are there, come out."

With a quick gulp, Team 10 stepped out of the bushes, as well as the much more comfortable Team Gai.

"H-hey Sakura…" Ino said a bit scared.

"Oh hey Ino-pi...wait you didn't call me forehead?" Sakura replied.

Tenten cut in as she then spoke up "To be fair Sakura...anyone would be scared of you for a bit after that."

Sakura then looked over to Tenten and smiled.

"Oh hey Tenten, how has this part been going for you guys?" she said as Tenten walked over.

Tenten shrugged as she said "Well, we got both of our scrolls and were resting for a bit, but then we sensed you about to kick some ass and just had to watch."

Sakura decided to pull a Naruto there.

"Eheheheh." she said as she scratched the back of her head.

Sakura then turned towards Ino, who squirmed away for a moment, but then Sakura asked her a question.

"What about you Ino? How has your team been? We haven't really talked because of the whole...Sasuke thing."

Ino's mouth dropped to the floor. She couldn't believe what she was hearing. Sakura was actually talking civilly with her?

Haku noticed this and had a bit of a giggle, causing Ino to snap out of it and answer Sakura's question.

"Well, we've been mainly keeping low, looking for an opportunity to grab a scroll...and then we came across you and...well let's just say I have a respectful fear of you now."

Sakura simply waved her hand as she said "Oh that...I don't really like using that unless it's necessary or pissed...that power of youth thing is weird."

Neji and Tenten in the background nodded. Meanwhile Lee retorted with a "HEY! It is not weird!"

Ino nodded and replied "Okay then...don't think that means you win with the whole Sasuke thing."

Sakura jerked for a moment before she made a dry smile and said "You have no idea…"

The other two kunoichi were confused by her response, but let it be for now.

Meanwhile Naruto was chatting with Neji and Choji.

"Yeah, if there's one thing I know, if she says anything about the power of youth, you're screwed."

Shikamaru nodded as he replied "No kidding. I always said women are troublesome"

He and Choji looked at the destruction she caused, especially poor Dosu.

"Does she do that everytime?" Choji asked Naruto.

Naruto nodded and said "Only if the last person she needs to take out is a guy…"

The two then nodded and then Choji spoke up.

"By the way, I've been meaning to ask...what's with those?"

"Hmm? What do you mean?" Naruto asked in confusion.

Shikamaru looked at the orange clad ninja and spoke "Yeah, that's been on my mind since I got here. What's with the ears and tail?"

Neji even added in "It's not a transformation...what is this?"

The remaining ninja then looked over at Naruto.

All of Team 7 paled at the moment of realization.

Because everything had been so hectic since the battle with Orochimaru. Between healing and then saving Asuka from the curse mark, Asuka and Haku both making a move on the blond, and then Sakura annihilating the three sound ninja…

Naruto hadn't reset the seal on his fox ears and tail after the fight with Orochimaru. And none of the team reminded him. They ALL forgot about it.

Even Minato was hitting his head against one of the trees in Naruto's mindscape, and Kyuubi was facepalming herself.

As for Naruto…

"Oh...fuck…"

* * *

**Naruto: Dammit! Now everyone will know!**

**Asuka: Why?**

**Naruto: Ino the rumor mill.**

**Ino: HEY!**

**Sakura: It could be worse. Wait until Sasuke, or rather Asuka, reveals themselves to the rest of the village.**

**Ino: ...excuse me what?**

**WVH: Oh dear, I'm gonna cut it off here before Ino tries to break the sound barrier. Thanks all for reading, make sure to R&R, and come back next time!**

**Ino: You're saying S-Sasuke-kun is...is...NNNO-**


	12. Chapter 12: To the Next Stage

**Hello everyone! I'm back and here with another chapter! It's been a bit busy the past few days (cuz 2nd shift sucks!), so it took a bit longer. But it also gave me the time to go through some of your reviews and think on a thing or two.**

**First, since apparently people assume 'Kitsune' Naruto means 'Furry' Naruto, I changed the description to 'Hanyou' Naruto, since at this point he's basically a half-fox demon. He has human body, but has the fox ears, tail, and senses. Hopefully that'll get the furry flamers to shut up and realize he isn't a furry in this case. Also if he does have kids, they would also likely be hanyou.**

**Second, I know some of you have been asking about the pairings. So far for what I have planned is as such**

**Naruto - Asuka, Haku, and Hinata**

**Kinda on the fence at the moment though for what I do with Sakura. And Tenten will probably date Neji or Lee at some point. Also, I'm not putting Mei with Naruto. She deserves someone a bit more mature if you ask me. As for the girls from Lightning or Earth Nations, I'll probably wait on deciding that until I get the story to Shippuden Era.**

**Third, for the one person who mentioned Kurenai's age, while she was 15, that doesn't mean that she couldn't have fangirled a bit at some point. She was probably having to face the wonders of puberty at the time. Like a teenage girl reacts to a superstar. And if you think about it, it would explain her hate of fangirls if she had some such tendencies at one point.**

**Next, to the guy who noticed the tfs references...I see you too are a man of culture.**

**And lastly, thanks to everyone that's been supporting the series and I hope you all have been enjoying it! Now in any case...time to drive off the copyright nazis.**

**DIS-KAMI DAMMIT-CLAIMER: I do not, I repeat, DO NOT own Naruto or any part of said franchise. That belongs to the guys I've mentioned nearly every chapter til now. But I do own the story here as well as the techniques I come up with for some of the characters.**

**If I did own Naruto though, I wouldn't have made the fans suffer from the sheer amount of filler. But of course I don't, and we had to suffer through those, some more in particular. Now in any case, here's the chapter!**

* * *

Chapter 12: To the Next Stage

"So let me get this straight...the reason the village hates you is due to the fact the 4th Hokage used you to seal the Kyuubi on the day you were born, but because they're idiots, they assumed you're the human incarnation of the fox?" Shikamaru asked.

Naruto nodded in response.

Ino then asked "And the reason for these appendages of yours, is because the seal had an error or two since Lord Fourth was a bit rushed and when you used its chakra on the bridge in Wave, the errors caused this side effect?"

Naruto nodded again.

Then Lee asked "And with the abilities you've gained from it and your recent training, you were able to compete with a Sannin?"

Naruto replied with a deadpanned expression "Yes, and it's a SS class secret, so if you guys tell anyone, you'll have to deal with a fuckton of Anbu...now can you stop that please!?"

As the group was sitting next to the hollow tree, the girls were...studying...his ears and tail. Tenten's curiosity made her want to see if they were real, and after she stated how fluffy they felt...all the girls joined in.

Save for Asuka since all the people here, save for possibly Neji due to his Byakugan, and her team, still knew her as 'Sasuke'. It didn't mean she couldn't clench her fist behind her back though in annoyance of them...save for Haku since they came to an agreement.

Eventually the girls were satisfied and pulled away from the boy, who let out a breath of relief for two reasons.

One was that obviously they stopped messing with his ears and tail. It felt kind of weird with their hands messing with them since his ears and tails were apparently a bit sensitive. And second off, it was the fact that he could at least keep the facts that the Fourth's soul got dragged inside him and the fact the Fourth was none other than his father under wraps for now. After what they did, Minato stated that Orochimaru was likely livid with what they did and would kill him if he had the chance. He didn't need Iwagakure after him too right now. His two tenants had agreed with no comment on that.

Neji however, was a bit solemn. He had always talked about fate and how all were stuck with it, mainly due to the fact he had been branded by the curse mark of the branch clan. For a long time since he heard about the blond due to the main house heiress' affection for him, he assumed the boy to merely be a failure just like she was. However, it turned out that he too suffered the indignity of a mark placed on placed upon his body that in the eyes of some made him a lower class citizen. And yet he strove to prove them wrong, to prove the 'fate' they gave him was wrong. And he was already doing so. Neji even used his Byakugan to look for where their fight with the Sannin took place and saw the collateral damage from Naruto's final attack.

_Perhaps...Fate really is not as all powerful as I thought…_ Neji thought.

He then looked over at the Uchiha, who he had figured out long ago to be female, and then thought with a smirk _But then again, 'that' being revealed is bound to happen...and I admit, I'll enjoy the look on those weak fangirl ninjas' faces when it does._

Shikamaru sighed "You know, if that story wasn't so ridiculous and that we're friends, I wouldn't believe you. But I do. And it's not like I had my assumptions from before. That and proving you wrong at this point would be too much work."

"Lazy. Also, I won't be spilling this one. Mainly because I would like to live. Also because most people probably wouldn't believe me." Ino said to the blond.

Lee then made a thumbs up and said "And we would never sell out a friend! You can trust us!"

Naruto could feel the happy tears well up in his eyes before he said "Thanks guys! You're the best!"

He then gave each of them a quick hug, much to most of their annoyance except for Choji and Lee. They gladly hugged him back.

"Well that's a relief. Also Naruto, put back on your seals." Sakura said. Naruto then made a handsign and then turned the seals back on, his ears and tail hidden once more.

Haku then whispered to Asuka "I'm sure you'll get the chance next time."

But just as things seemed to calm down...two people attempted to make a move.

"Sakura, the power of youth you displayed was magnificent! Please go out with me!"

"Hey Sasuke-kun! How about you hang out with me for a bit while we're here?"

To which Sakura and Asuka responded…

"Lee...for the 51st time...NO." Sakura replied, causing Lee to go mope next to a tree.

"We've wasted too much time here. We should get moving." 'Sasuke' replied, which made Ino pout as the 'boy' once again didn't react to her. Little did she know, both Naruto and Haku were trying their hardest to not laugh. Knowing the truth, they realized just how pointless Ino's desire for the Uchiha return some affection was pointless. And as such, it was hilarious.

It didn't stop Minato and the Kyuubi from a fit of laughter from within the safety of the seal though.

Just as the groups were about to part ways and leave the area, Sakura asked Ino "What scroll do you guys need?"

Ino looked a bit confused as she replied "Well, Earth, bu-"

Sakura then put the Earth scroll from the sound ninja into the blonde's hand, confusing the blonde girl.

Sakura said "Think of it as a bit of a peace offering."

Ino smiled and said "I'll take it...but don't think I'll let you have Sasuke."

"Again, you don't know the half of it." Sakura said with a dry laugh.

The groups then split off from each other and headed towards where the center of the forest was.

As they jumped from tree to tree, Naruto had a wide smile on his face.

Haku looked at Naruto as they tree jumped and said "Someone seems to be in a good mood."

Naruto grinned as he said "Well, I told them the important parts, and they didn't think of me as a monster! So I think it's great!"

Haku smirked as she teased "But that isn't all of it, right?"

Naruto blushed as the memories of him kissing both Asuka and Haku came back, to which Haku giggled at a successful teasing attempt.

In the seal, Minato and Kyuubi chuckled as they could see the boy's thoughts, much to said boy's annoyance as he knew they might tease him too later.

However, it also brought it back for Asuka too, also causing her to blush, before she shook her head and put the thought aside for later. Right now she needed to act as 'Sasuke', and that meant being an indifferent bastard who seems to only care about revenge.

The fact was she did have some thoughts on revenge before, but not as much as she acted. But she always felt that something was off. And then not too much earlier, she learned that she was spot on with her gut feeling. Though as to why her brother traumatized her, she still was a bit shocked. And pissed. She already was considering ways to kick her brother's ass for that.

As they journeyed to the tower, they did happen to come across one of the teams from Rain, in fact it was the same one from before, the one that had one of their members scout them only to get his ass kicked. The Rain nin thought they could trick the team with a genjutsu to get them to run around in circles, but it didn't do jack shit since the team spotted it right away. And since they really didn't want to waste time, Naruto simply summoned 30 clones and told them to 'have fun'.

Let's just say by the end of it when Naruto's clones dispelled, the Rain nin were on the ground and littered with bruises and bumps, and would likely not be getting their old scroll back. Still better off than what happened to the Sound Trio though.

In any case, after about an hour of tree-jumping, the Team finally made it to the Tower.

"Finally! That was taking forever!" Naruto yelled in victory.

Asuka nodded as she said "Well, let's go in. I want to get some actual rest since we still have one more day before this part ends."

Haku nodded, as she also wanted to sleep in a nice and warm bed again.

Sakura also noted "And I wouldn't mind a shower after all that dirt and grime."

"I don't mind the whole outdoors thing, but I really want to get to the next part, LET'S GO!" Naruto exclaimed. The team then went into the specified door for them and entered the tower.

The room they walked into had a sign on the wall, with a sort of poem, with a blank near the end as if it was meant to be filled in with something.

"Huh...well I have no idea what that means!" Naruto said in his usual jolly mood.

Haku let out a giggle, Asuka merely shrugged since it was typical of Naruto, and Sakura simply facepalmed as she should have seen that coming.

Asuka then answered for him.

"I think we open the scrolls here."

"Oh!...that makes sense." Naruto replied.

Naruto then reached into his jacket and pulled out their three scrolls. As he handed them to the girls, he looked quite happy with himself.

"Man, I love fuinjutsu! Storage seals make things so much easier!" Naruto exclaimed.

It was in fact part of their plans as they entered. They had given the scrolls to Naruto since he was not only the strongest among them at the moment, but due to his training in fuinjutsu from his father, it wasn't too hard for him to set up a storage seal somewhere on his jacket. Plus with his reputation as the Deadlast, enemies would be less likely to realize Naruto had them.

Asuka then said "True. Thanks to that we could hide the scrolls on Naruto-kun."

Sakura nodded and added "Yeah...and pretty sure no normal person would want to touch that jacket."

Naruto felt like a rock hit him in the back of the head with that.

"Oh come on! It's not that bad! It's my favorite color! Has lots of pockets! And I got this thing dirt cheap compared to what all the stupid civilians charge me!" Naruto retorted.

Sakura couldn't help but do a double take before she said "Wait, what was that last part?"

Haku then nodded "So basically you couldn't get anything better due to their misguided hatred...that's unfortunate. I don't really mind it...but you probably could do better."

"Not you too Haku-chan!" Naruto cried.

"_To be fair son...I agree that outfit has seen better days. Maybe you can get a nice jacket?" _Minato spoke his opinion.

"_Fleshbag...the only reason why I haven't told you to get rid of that horrendous outfit is the fact it's orange, which is a color I approve of." _The Kyuubi commented.

Naruto had comic like tears going down his face as shots were fired at his current choice of clothing. Asuka put a hand on his shoulder and told him "Don't worry too much Naruto-kun."

Naruto smiled at her cheering him up…

"We can figure out about getting you some new clothing after this is over."

And then Naruto was in the corner, where he moped much like a certain wood-style user. Asuka realized what she said and went there to comfort him. Everyone sweatdropped a bit at that sight...save for the Kyuubi who was enjoying the entertainment.

After a few minutes of heartwarming words, Naruto was back to normal and the three girls held their scrolls. They then nodded and opened them at the same time. As they opened them, they all saw the character for 'man' in the middle and the scrolls started to smoke.

"Crap! It's a summon scroll! Drop them!" Asuka yelled, and thus the three dropped the scrolls and backed away, and Naruto followed suit and joined them.

Smoke then appeared with a 'POOF!' as the summon scrolls activated. And as the smoke dissipated, the one who stood there was none other than…

"Iruka-sensei!?" Naruto, Sakura, and Asuka in her 'Sasuke' voice, spoke.

"Hello everyone! How have you all been?" Iruka said with a smile.

Naruto responded with a "It's been great! We've been kicking butt!"

"Of course." Iruka replied with a smile. Though Naruto didn't mention that said butt kicking included a Sannin.

"It's been...eventful." 'Sasuke' said. She wasn't exactly lying about it, but she didn't want to worry the brown haired, scar faced, kind teacher...plus there was the whole fact she didn't know if he knew about the whole gender issue like Kakashi, and as of recent her team, did.

"To be fair, that's the chunin exams for you." Iruka replied. He could tell 'Sasuke' was hiding something from him. But he chose not to worry about it since the brooding 'boy' always seemed to have his secrets.

Oh if he only knew.

"I just want to rest and have a shower...and I have things to think about." Sakura said.

"Ah is that so-...wait...she didn't say anything about Sasuke?" Iruka said with slightly dumbfounded amazement.

"What!?" Sakura said in annoyance.

Iruka pinched the bridge of his nose as he thought out loud "Okay...either this is a dream, she's actually taking things seriously, or the world is going to end."

"Hey!"

Iruka then let out a short laugh before he spoke "Sorry, sorry, was joking a little. I'm glad though you've started to take your career more seriously over...other pursuits."

Sakura blushed a little both at the compliment...and at the embarrassment as she thought of how she acted before the training hell. She realized that if she didn't go through that, she probably would have still been that weak fangirl ninja.

That and with that former fangirl dream of hers gone as it turned out her crush was in fact, a girl who hid herself to protect herself from abuse by the village. She couldn't really hold it against her either. Seeing Asuka's past made Sakura realize just how much 'sunshine and rainbows' her vision of what the life of a kunoichi was.

Iruka nodded and then looked over to Haku and said "And you must be Team 7's newest addition, Haku Yuki."

"I am. I've heard a decent amount about you from Naruto-kun." Haku replied with a nod.

Iruka let a wide smile come across his face and said "I suppose you have. It's good that he's getting more friends, he needs them."

Haku smiled right back with a "Indeed."

In Naruto's mind, Minato also nodded to Iruka's statement. As for the Kyuubi…

"_While I don't want to admit it...I like it better when he's actually in a good mood than when he uses those fake smiles. It was annoying." _she commented.

_Ah, love you too Kyuubi!_ Naruto thought replied...and of course the Kyuubi in response sent him a mental image of her flipping him off, to which both Minato and Naruto chuckled.

"So sensei, we've passed the second exam, right!?" Naruto asked the older man.

Iruka simply chuckled a bit and said "Yes...but first I need to explain something to you four. You saw the poem on the wall, right?"

The team nodded in response.

Iruka then explained it to them.

"Essentially, it's a sort of guideline to Chunin. First, it's important to have a strong mind, and it you're lacking, you should study to improve your knowledge...in this case, that would be you Naruto."

"Hey! I'm not that stupid!" he yelled...though none of them really stuck up for him. They all thought he could use a bit more tact.

Iruka continued "Next, if you're lacking in strength, you should exercise and train yourself. For your current team, this would be Sakura."

At this Naruto laughed as he said "Sakura? Physically weak? That's funny!"

'Sasuke' let out a 'hnn', while she thought _Well, out of all of us, other than Naruto, she's probably the one that's changed the most since the academy. Lord Fourth really knew what he was doing._

Iruka looked confused before Haku spoke "She trained with Might Gai at one point sir."

With that, Iruka paled at the thought and then made a closer observation of the girl, and noticed that what were originally just noodle arms before, were now well toned for a female, and he was certain that she could probably knock even him out of she felt like it.

Iruka snapped himself out of it and shook his head and smiled.

"Well, that's quite an improvement for you Sakura, good job!" Iruka stated.

Sakura smiled at the praise. It made her feel a bit nostalgic...only for it to be ruined in her mind as she remembered while she was smart, she was equally stupid due to her fangirl obsession at the time.

Iruka moved on from this point and explained the final part of the poem.

"And lastly, if you have both a strong mind and body, this 'person' will certainly be able to surpass the trials they might face."

The group nodded, as they had gotten the point of the lesson.

Iruka then asked "Now, any questions?"

"Can we get some ramen after this? I'm starving!"

And with that all of the team facefaulted, and Iruka had a dry laugh.

Inside the seal, the Kyuubi was laughing her ass off, and Minato was facepalming at his son's impeccable timing. But then again, he remembered Kushina did that every now and then too when it came to food.

They really should have seen that coming.

After Sakura then gave him a solid whack to the head, Iruka led them inside the tower and showed them around the facility, which included an arena, cafeteria, infirmary, and dorms for genin teams to use during their stay. And much to the joy of Haku and Sakura, and secretly Asuka, the dorm rooms each came with a bathroom that had running water.

After Iruka left them to their own devices, the group let out a breath of relief. They all felt that for now, they could put the events in the forest behind them...though…

"Wow, it really is fluffy!"

While the other girls were taking their turns in the shower, Asuka used the 'puppy dog eyes jutsu' to get Naruto to undo the seals on his ears and tail for a bit so she could have a turn on what she missed out on in the forest. Naruto meanwhile didn't know what to do since while it made him feel weird, it also made the girl happy with him.

_Man, she acts so different compared to when she was acting as 'Sasuke'! Not that I mind… _Naruto thought as the girl was messing with his ears and tail. His tail even wagged a little.

Meanwhile Minato watched the scene with a smile...and the Kyuubi was making whipping sounds followed with some laughter. Even Minato couldn't help but smirk as he found it funny despite it being a shot at his son.

The Kyuubi noticed this and then grinned.

"_What's that look for?"_ Minato asked her.

"_Well, like father like son." _she spoke with her pearly whites shown.

Minato was going to reply, only to realize that when he was alive, he was indeed a whipped husband. Thus silence followed.

"_And that makes it 6-5. YES! TAKE THAT BLOND BASTARD!" _Kyuubi yelled with her arms up in the air...but then Minato ruined it for her again.

"_And who was the one who made the seal that could remove the curse mark? And who was the one who got you to help them knowing you would have to reveal your real self?" _Minato chuckled.

The Kyuubi in response, pouted at him. And with that, the score went to 7-6 in Minato's favor.

* * *

_The next day_

After the group had gotten themselves a good night's sleep, they went over to the mess hall for breakfast. They had seen a few teams enter the tower on the way in, and the four were quite glad they had gotten to the tower the previous day. If with how the previous part of the exam went right after the first part, they would want to be prepared for it.

As they went in, they saw the other members of the Rookie Nine at one of the tables and went to join them.

"Hey guys!" Naruto greeted them with a grin.

Meanwhile Asuka sighed as she knew what would happen next.

"Hi Naruto...and Sasuke-kun!" Ino shrilled in delight as she attempted to jump over the table to glomp him, only for Asuka to dodge last minute as she stepped with the side.

Asuka chose to ignore the blonde that was giving him fake tears and focused on the others at the table. She felt more comfortable dealing with the males at the table than the girls due to the fact she had to act as a male most of her life. Well Haku was sharing Naruto with her and Sakura had gotten better, but she honestly would hit Ino if she didn't have to keep the 'Sasuke' persona up at the moment.

"So Kiba, I see you guys made it too." 'Sasuke' said with her typical 'Sasuke' smirk.

Kiba looked at 'him' with his own cocky grin and said "More like you guys were slow. Heck we were one of the first groups to arrive!"

Shino poked his glasses up and said "One of the first, yes, but not the first. We were the second team to arrive."

Naruto in his ever expanding curiosity asked "And who got here first?"

Kiba, as well as Akamaru, shuddered for a moment and said "Those guys from Sand…"

Naruto pondered for a moment before he put his fist in his hand as he remembered the genin team from the Sand village.

"Oh, you mean that team with that Gaara guy." Naruto said.

Kiba cocked an eyebrow and asked "Wait you know him?"

Haku decided to step in and speak of the mentioned event where they met him and his siblings.

Kiba looked at them with a 'WTF' face before he said "Ok, there is no way dipshit here did that. He's the deadlast for crying out loud!"

While Shino didn't make any opinion, and Naruto yelled "And you think you could do better!?", the rest of the group had a single unified thought.

_Pretty sure Deadlast doesn't suit him anymore_.

However, they were brought out of their musings as the two looked like they were going to start a scuffle. Before anyone could react though, Sakura walked over to them and bopped them both on the head, leaving nasty bumps behind.

"You idiots! Leave that for later!" she yelled at them. The rest of the group shrugged for a moment before Hinata went to check on them.

"A-are you t-two okay?" she asked them.

"I'll be fine Hinata-chan. I've had worse." Naruto answered her.

Meanwhile Kiba yelled "Okay? Dude, she couldn't throw a punch for her life in the academy and now hits harder than my sister! What the hell!?"

At this point felt a mischievous smile come across his face. He got a nasty little idea that got the Kyuubi to give him a thumbs up.

"Want to know how she did it? How she's SOOO strong now?" he told Kiba.

Kiba then looked at him and asked "How?"

_And hook, line, and sinker _he thought.

Minato meanwhile said "_I feel sorry for this boy..."_

"Next time you see your sensei, ask them if you can have some training sessions with Might Gai." Naruto said with a grin on his face.

Kiba nodded and said "Alright, I'll go and do that later! Then I can prove my dominance!"

As Naruto did this, Asuka had a smile as she knew just what Naruto was doing, and found it funny. Haku was giggling at the subtle prank Naruto just pulled on Kiba. And Sakura...she wanted to feel bad for him...but thought it might straighten the idiot out a bit. It did wonders for her.

As for the members of Team 10, they looked over at him as they saw him fall for Naruto's ploy. Ino and Shikamaru had to admit that if the rumors about Gai were true, it was well played. Choji frowned a little since it was a bit cruel...but like Sakura, thought it might curb Kiba's ego.

As for Team 8, the only one who knew about Gai's training was Hinata. While she paled at the thought of her friend struggling under the training, she also thought it might be a good experience for him.

_Perhaps he'll end up being a bit less brash?_ She thought. She then looked over at her crush and then back at Kiba, and decided to say nothing about it. She thought _It would probably help in improving his taijutsu as well._

Sasuke however noticed her hesitation and thought _That reminds me. I need to talk to her later about Naruto-kun._

The group then settled down and ate their meals with a bit of minor chatter.

After that they went over to the arena, where in the middle of one of the walls, a statue of two hands using the tiger handseal stood. Also there was a sort of second floor that surrounded the bottom, with railings so that spectators could watch the fights below.

As the remaining teams filed into the room, the members of Team 7 looked around and noticed some of the teams that were familiar.

Obviously there were the other members of the Rookie Nine, since they were just eating with them earlier. Next was Kabuto's team, which seemed like they had been through the ringer by a bit. Third was Team Gai, who they gave a quick wave to, though of course Sakura had to also dodge an air kiss from Lee. There was also a team that looked as if though they had to fight a horde of tigers or something as they had injuries all over. And lastly...there was the team from Sand.

The second they stepped in the room, he could feel Gaara's gaze on him, as if the boy had marked Naruto as a target...or more so, prey. He would have to deal with him sooner or later. Thankfully he knew what the boy's main weapon was since Team 8 had told him earlier...but then again, he had some idea of it already since he had learned a bit from the Kyuubi and his dad about the different Biju.

The boy used sand as his weapon and shield. Blocking attacks or even crushing his foes. Quite literally with the latter since Kiba, Hinata, and Shino saw him do that first hand to another team. Be it from his gourd, or the earth itself. Meaning he would be quite a dangerous opponent.

The Kyuubi did give him advice on that though.

"_First, his main weakness is water style since it'll mess with his sand, making it harder for him to use properly. Second, he can only move his sand so fast, so it can be out-sped. Third, if you have a powerful enough attack it's possible to bypass his defense, and lightning nature especially can work on that. Fourth, you can use fox fire style to try and turn his sand to glass since my flames are hot enough. Fifth, if you can devise some seals you could disable him directly. And lastly, but most importantly, DON'T let him sleep. Else you'll be fighting a Biju head on."_

Naruto nodded, thankful for the advice. He was going to tell his teammates, but then Anko appeared in front of them, she even winked towards Naruto for a moment and spoke.

"For those of you standing here, good work! You've passed the second exam!"

* * *

**Naruto: Well guess we're finally done with that part! On to the next DATTEBAYO!**

**Sakura: I'm just happy I got to clean up afterwards.**

**Haku: Agreed, now we can enter the third part of the exam.**

**Asuka: True, now relax Naruto, wait til next chapter. *starts scratching his fox ear***

**Naruto: O-okay...a bit further though please.**

**Kiba: Ha! Acting all high and mighty and still whipped! What a loser!**

**WVH: ...Kiba, run**

**Akamaru shakes his head and jumps off Kiba's shoulder, knowing what's to come.**

**Kiba unaware of the three girls behind him, one of which is his teammate: Why? I didn't say anythi-OH SHIT!**

**WVH: Well in any case guys, I hoped you enjoyed the chapter! Be sure to R&R and come back for next time!**

**Kiba being brutally beaten for insulting the girls' husbando: HELP MEEEEEEEE!**


	13. Chapter 13: The Prelims Commence!

**And here we are, finally to the prelims of the Third Exam! So now that Naruto and co. have made it this far, you might wonder about how much of the original plot is gonna change. Well, this is where things start to change up. Because of character development, growth, changes to events...and also needing to fill in the slots left by the now incapacitated Sound Trio.**

**Poor Sound Trio.**

**Now there's a review that has a ton of questions that I'll answer right away**

**1\. I honestly think the way Asuka carried herself as 'Sasuke' made her look more like the cool boy. And probably with a bit of makeup here and there, most people would presume her as a male.**

**2\. The reason for Mei is that I plan on pairing her with someone else. So she won't be left hanging. And it will be quite hilarious when it happens.**

**3\. You do bring up a good point, but Karin is ****technically Naruto's cousin in this situation. So if anything they'll have a more familial bond than one of lovers. Though I'll figure out who to put her with before long. As for some of the other women you've mentioned, some are a bit out of the age range, though I'll give them something to work with. It's kind of important to make sure there is some sort of bond between the characters if I'm going to include them...though I will admit, Hana and Ayame are a bit tempting, but if I mess with that, it'll be later.**

**As for Tsunade...while yes, she is hot, I'd prefer for the typical hijinks****Jiraya gets into with her. They share a lot more of a bond than Naruto would with Tsunade I think.**

**Now with that answered, let's get into the prelims! But first...uugghh...how many times must I do thiiiiss!?**

**Disclaimer: You know the drill. That I don't own Naruto and its stuff and that it belongs to its actual freaking owners plus the people that serialized it and so forth. All I own are this story itself, the techniques I come up with, and if I do, any Ocs I toss into the story. Ok there, now let's get down to it!**

* * *

Chapter 13: The Prelims Commence!

_The Tower, Forest of Death, Konohagakure, Land of Fire_

"For those of you standing here, congratulations! You've passed the second exam!" Anko spoke to the remaining genin.

Amongst some of them you could see them doing their own bit of victory dances or so forth. However, this was the minority of them as the tension in the room was tense. This was not only due to the competition, but just who were in the 2nd floor stands above.

There were many jonin standing around the circumference, mostly of Konoha, though there were a few from the other nations, and standing on the part of the stands that went over the handsign statue was none other than the Third Hokage himself. He stood there with a serious expression, as if showing his strength and authority despite his age.

Towards one side though was the single Jonin from the Land of Sound, who was in fact, Orochimaru in disguise. And while the Konoha ninja decided to let him stay since his first chunin exam 'team' had been wiped out so they could get something about it, he didn't really care at the thought of their pity.

No no no, he instead was focused on a certain blond hair ninja brat that had thrown a very large wrench into his plans. He was glaring at the boy with hopes just his eyes alone would kill him. But of course that didn't happen. He desperately wanted to kill the boy, but he couldn't let the Leaf Village know he was here just yet. There were still certain things that needed to be done. And with the amount of high quality ninja here that weren't either working or allied for him, he wasn't even sure he would be able to win without sacrificing too much.

_Damn that Kyuubi brat! First he injures my body, which isn't too much of a problem, but then he and his merry little friends fucking managed to remove the curse seal I placed on Sasuke and even destroyed the part of my soul I put in there! Not only was that the worst pain I have ever felt in my life, but with that I've been set back in my plans! _He thought.

However, as much as he hated the boy...he also felt fear, not as in terror, but rather a full scale threat to his plans.

_So much rides on my curse marking technique...the fact he managed to remove it from Sasuke likely means that...he could possibly do it to others as well…_he thought as he considered the threat the boy was.

The facts were, the boy was strong enough to actually do decent damage to the man at such a young age, but he also managed to somehow find a way to undo what was basically a keystone to his plans. The curse mark was literally one of the most important tools in his plans. It made those marked more obedient to him, gave them strength by activating their curse marks, but most importantly, it was what allowed him to take over bodies in the first place.

And the fact was, he knew if the boy could do it once...he could easily do it again. As a result, he knew that marking Sasuke again would be pointless. Naruto could remove the curse mark from her again more than likely.

And that was also an issue with him. While it was a bit more of a preference, he always felt more comfortable in a male body, and the males that worked for him tended to be less defiant. Especially the member of the Sound Four Takuya. If it wasn't for the fact that he helped her when she needed it, though it was for his own goals, he was certain that the girl would have resisted the curse mark entirely.

_Though then again...it could also do with the one time Tsunade had put me in the state I was closest to death _Orochimaru thought with a shudder. If there was one ninja he did not want to deal with, other than that blasted Akatsuki organization, was his ex-teammate Tsunade Senju.

Speaking of Tsunade, there was also the pink haired girl, Sakura Haruno. The man had originally read her off as a simple fangirl ninja. Apparently though, the fact was over the past month she had essentially become a mini-Tsunade. He even had interrogated the now broken nosed Kin earlier only to learn she fought the Sound nin genin alone and beat them single handed after opening three of the inner gates. Orochimaru was surprised at how they were not dead at first, but then released likely part of the reason why they were not dead.

The girl likely had a high amount of chakra control. Meaning quite literally, she could become as strong with not stronger than the blonde sannin. It was part of the reason why he wanted to kill her in the first place.

But now wasn't the time...all he could do now was observe and strategize about what ways he could get rid of the brats as well as the other Konoha ninja in the area.

He then saw the Jinchurikki from the sand and an idea popped into his head. An evil sneer made its way on his face as he thought of how it could go if done properly. The idea of the Uzumaki brat having his body slowly crushed felt quite good to him.

For now, he would wait in the shadows, and bide for his time to strike like the snake he was.

* * *

_With Naruto_

_Is it just me or is someone giving me the death glare? _Naruto thought as he could feel someone had directed a lot of bloodlust towards him.

The Kyuubi smirked and replied "_Probably that snake piece of shit. He's probably pissed that you screwed him over in two ways and probably can't do shit about it at the moment."_

"_I wouldn't be surprised. From what I remember about him, he could hold quite the grudge." _Minato added on.

Naruto nodded and focused his attention back on the proctor.

"Now then, Lord Third behind me will explain the Third Exam to you all! Take what he says to heart, got it!?" Anko said as she backed to the side for the moment.

The Third Hokage cleared his throat and spoke "The third exam will commence shortly, however, before I explain the specifics, I must tell you the underlying purpose of the exam."

This happened to get everyone's attention. The Sarutobi then explained how the chunin exams were much like a war in miniature, that it helped show the strength of each participating nations ninja, and for those who reached the latter part of the third exam, it would also show the populace their strength as well, which would give the local lords and so forth a better idea of which nation they might hire for jobs.

So while it helped state who had strong ninja in the works, it also acted as a battle of resources, and in this case, said resources were missions and the pay that came with them.

As for the reactions in the crowd, some were confused, some annoyed since they were only really here to become chunin, others just didn't care.

Though of course Naruto had started to doze off, only for Sakura and Asuka to pull him out of it with either nudges...or in Sakura's case, a 'light' punch to some part of his body. He was just thankful none of said punches were to anything important.

"_Don't worry Naruto, he's almost done."_ Minato spoke to him.

Meanwhile the Kyuubi yawned as she said "_Though this is boring. Just get to the fighting part already…"_

Gaara then spoke up "Whatever, can you finish the philosophical talk and get into the life and death part already?"

The Third Hokage raised an eyebrow up at the boy and decided that perhaps he had let the long winded speech go on long enough.

"So you insist I explain the third exam? Very well."

However, before he could continue one of the ninja shunshined to the arena floor, he wore the typical jonin uniform of the green flak jacket over a blue jacket and pants, though he also wore a blue bandana over his head, with flat black hair that went to his neck.

"Perhaps it would be best I explain the Third Exam Lord Third. I am it's proctor after all." The jonin said.

The Hokage then nodded in approval. And the man raised his head to the genins, and showed them his tired looking eyes and his pale complexion.

He then coughed into his hand for a moment and introduced himself.

"Good to meet you everyone. I'm Gekko Hayate, your proctor for the third exam." He spoke...and then coughed again.

Many of the genins wondered if the man was going to keel over with such a sickly complexion, but the fact he was a jonin even with that meant it wasn't too likely.

"_Ah, that's Hayate. From what I remember before I died, the teachers said he had potential as a kenjutsu user. Though the chronic coughing seems to be from after then." _Minato commented.

Hayate then continued "Before we begin however, I would like you all to do something for me…"

The genins looked a bit confused before he stated what he wanted from them.

"There's still too many applicants here…" He said and then coughed. "So we will need to have a set of preliminary rounds. As whether or not you get to the main stage...that'll depend on your performance here."

One of the ninja started to complain, stating that they passed the second exam.

Hayate then replied, "Well, its called for the main exam there will be a lot of guests watching." Cue fit of coughing. "So it's not like they'll want to wait all day while waiting for the next part…"

The room then went silent.

"Now...to make things simple, the third exam will be one-on-one battles, as well as in the case of the preliminaries. The rules are quite simple, to win you need to defeat your opponent. Be it knocking them out, disabling them, making them surrender...or killing them. Though I will warn you, the latter is looked down on, and we will step in if it gets too dangerous to try to minimize casualties, but if we're too slow, my condolences." Hayate explained...before he coughed again.

He then looked at them and then added "Also, as for the preliminaries ...they will be starting right now! So if any of you aren't feeling up to it...you can step forward and drop out now. And don't worry about your teams. From this point forward is based on the individual."

It was then several of the applicants ended up forfeiting the exam. Some looked wasted from the second part of the exam, while others simply quit out of cowardice at the idea of life and death battles.

One of the quitters included Kabuto, which Naruto, his team, and the Hokage took note of.

All of Team 7 looked at him with caution. They knew by now he was likely working with the Snake Sannin based off of how Naruto had caught onto the scent that was similar to Orochimaru, as well as the fact he had information that was supposed to be top secret.

Meanwhile in the stands above, the Third Hokage looked at the boy and then made some discret hand signals behind his back, which was to alert the Anbu in the room to keep an eye on him. He had already put some men on the single Sound Jonin in the room, but it seemed for the time being they wouldn't make a move, so for now, all they could do was observe.

The Hokage then looked towards the Uzumaki boy and smiled. He was happy that not only he had gotten this far, but his Anbu even reported that with the help of his father, his team managed to remove the curse seal Orochimaru put on the poor Uchiha girl…

Though on the other hand, he could see the grin Kakashi had under his mask. The Jonin had guessed right on when the rest of the girl's teammates would learn of Asuka's gender. And the older man was quite annoyed that later he would have to give his...collection...to the silver-haired jonin. Which included several of Jiraya's exclusive books. He could already feel the regret that he basically pulled a Tsunade at the thought of obtaining the one or two first edition books Kakashi had.

Gambling was quite the vice indeed.

About five minutes in, there was no more applicants leaving the stage, leaving the Rookie 9 plus Haku, Team Gai, two of Kabuto's teammates, the Sand Ninja, and lastly, a single kunoichi and male ninja from Takigakure...since one of her teammates decided to wuss out on her.

The girl with mint colored hair and orange eyes, and wore a set of white clothing that included a tank top, an apron like skirt, shinobi sandals, and sleeves, with netting that went under her shirt and some that was over a pair of shorts under the apron. She looked both ecstatic at the idea of a good fight...but also annoyance at her one teammate. And of course the other one was there since someone had to keep tabs on her...though for the sake of the story...he's pretty insignificant.

The Kyuubi jerked her head up and spoke "_Wait a...what the fuck is Chomei doing here!?"_

Naruto mentally spoke _What? Who's Chomei?_

The Kyuubi then sighed "_Chomei is the Nanabi, the seven tailed beetle. If you remember idiot, his specialty is flight and the use of different scale dusts...heck that's probably what he used to escape your scent...though we were also focused on that damn pedophile."_

Naruto nodded and then asked the fox "_So...how bad a problem are we dealing with then?"_

The Kyuubi simply shrugged and told him "_You'll be fine. Apparently Chomei was willing to make a quick mental link with me, and while his Jinchurikki is getting the typical treatment...she's not murder crazy like Gaara."_

Naruto let out a breath of relief. He knew he was going to have to deal with Gaara soon enough. He didn't want to fight another Jinchurikki as well on top of that...well at least not to the death.

Naruto then happened to pick up on something.

_Wait...if the Nanabi has a name...don't you have one as well?_

This in fact caught both Minato and the Kyuubi off guard. Minato had never really thought about it by now, and the Kyuubi was surprised over the fact that for the first time in a long time, someone had actually raised that question.

The Kyuubi regained her composure and then replied "_You aren't worthy enough to know that...yet."_

Naruto then mentally deadpanned and asked her "...you're pulling an Itachi on me, aren't you?"

And thus with no answer, Naruto took that as a yes and then let that conversation be...for now.

Hayate then looked around the room and nodded...and also coughed into his hand.

"Alright, the preliminaries will now begin...as for who will be competing in each match...your fate will be decided by…"

As he spoke one of the walls slid open to reveal a large screen that showed two horizontal lines with the word 'Vs' in between them.

"This electronic scoreboard. At the start of each round, it will randomly pull out two applicants from the pool and show their names on the screen. Then they fight until the victor is decided." Hayate said followed by another cough...which was starting to get old to the genins now.

"Now then, let's draw the first two names so the sla-I mean matches, can begin."

Some of the genin deadpanned at the man for his bit of a verbal slip before the board then showed who would be in the first match.

Names flashed across the screen on the top and bottom before it stopped on two names.

'Sasuke Uchiha Vs Yoroi Akado'

"Okay then. Now everyone other than the Uchiha and Yoroi, head upstairs." Hayate announced.

As the others started to head up the stairs in order to watch, Naruto gave Asuka some encouragement.

"Kick his ass 'teme'!" Naruto yelled.

Asuka simply gave him the Uchiha 'hnn' with the 'Sasuke' smirk, though she was quite happy with the encouragement. To which of course Haku let out a short giggle at the exchange, and Sakura shrugged, her mind had come to terms with Asuka's true self and had moved on...and of course Ino who knew none of that had her eyes focused entirely on 'Sasuke' as she fangirled a bit.

Shikamaru however, noticed this.

_Wait...Sakura isn't fangirling? That's weird...maybe she started taking this seriously?...meh, too lazy to contemplate it _Shikamaru thought as he shrugged it off.

He then looked around at the remaining competition and started to strategize based on what he knew for how to counter each of his opponents, even his own teammates if they got an unlucky draw. However, he had already decided that if he would have to go against Choji or any of Team 7, he might as well forfeit. Choji because of friendship, Naruto due to his 'secret' and that he kicked a Sannin's ass, Haku since it would be a 'drag' to deal with her ice style, and Sakura...he already saw how terrifying she could be when she felt like it.

Soon enough the only people left on the arena floor were Hayate, 'Sasuke', and Yoroi, who which wore mostly black clothing with no sleeves, a hood that tightly fit over his head, and a cloth that covered the lower part of his face. He also wore a pair of black sunglasses with circular lenses.

"I suggest you prepare yourself boy, unless you want to scream like a woman." Yoroi said as he entered a stance.

'Sasuke' simply smirked and told him "Same to you." though on the inside she wanted to laugh since she was in fact, a woman. She also activated her sharingan in preparation.

Hayate looked at the two of them, and then made a karate chop motion and yelled "Match 1, Sasuke vs Yoroi, BEGIN!"

The moment he finished, he jumped back as at that moment, the two competitors dashed in for their clash.

Asuka first went for a jab at the man, who dodged and attempted to make a side swipe at her face as his hand started to glow with chakra. However, due to having a teammate who knew how to use the chakra scalpel, Asuka dodged it with a backstep since she could tell whatever jutsu Yoroi was using, she didn't want to be hit by it.

Asuka then attempted a front kick on the man, which did end up connecting, forcing the ninja to slide back from the impact.

"I see why my Lord was interested in you now. Though I wonder why you did not accept his offer. He can give one power beyond measure." Yoroi told 'Sasuke'.

Asuka sighed as she realized that she was dealing with yet another of Orochimaru's cronies, though then again, this guy was on Kabuto's team, so it was to be expected.

'Sasuke' then gave him a glance and said "Perhaps, but if I did so, I would have become his puppet...and I don't plan on being one." She then started to make a set of handsigns.

Yoroi then got himself back into his stance as he replied "Very well...I'll just drag you to him after I defeat you here."

He then dashed once more at 'Sasuke', who responded with a quick use of the fireball jutsu. He had given her the space and time to do so. However, much to her and the crowd's surprise, Yoroi simply swiped at the flames, and the flames became extinguished at his touch.

"Thanks for that!" Yoroi said as a sneer appeared under his mask and sunglasses.

Everyone seemed a bit confused as to how he did it, even Naruto was screaming "What the heck!? How does that make sense!?"

However, Asuka saw it clearly. Since right now, she could see chakra.

_Did he just absorb the chakra in the flames!? Not good! _She thought as the man came at her once more with a series of swipes.

Most of them she chose to dodge, but one cross swipe came too close, so on instinct she used her hand to parry it from the wrists, which apparently gave her an opening to hit him in the stomach with a well timed punch to the gut, which disbalanced him for the moment. She took further advantage of this by using a spin kick to send him flying backwards.

"I see...you absorb chakra with those hands of yours, right?" 'Sasuke' asked him.

Yoroi simply nodded as he replied "Keen eyes you have there. And you're correct. But how does that help you?"

'Sasuke' simply smirked and said "Well then…what about your eyes then?"

Yoroi looked a bit confused for a moment before a moment of realization hit him, and he then discharged his chakra to undo the genjutsu that had been done on him…

Only to find that the Uchiha was behind him, her hand about to hit his neck, and charged with a small amount of electricity.

The attack managed to hit, and as the electricity coursed into his spine, Yoroi convulsed for a moment before he fell to the floor.

Hayate then shunshined next to Yoroi to check on him, only to find that while he was alive, he wouldn't be getting back up any time soon.

He stood up and spoke "The winner of the first match is Sasuke Uchiha!"

The Konoha ninja started to cheer a bit, while Orochimaru simply sighed at a chance lost to him.

As Asuka went back up to the stands, Kakashi put a hand on her shoulder and gave him an eye smile as he said "Well done. It looked like things could have gotten a bit hairy, but you managed to pull it off."

Asuka smirked at that in response with a 'hnn', though on the inside she wanted to thank the man for that.

Naruto then added "That end was awesome too! How you just surprised him with that!...though at the same time, a bit annoying since you were showing off 'teme'."

Of course, 'Sasuke' gave him a quick 'hnn'. Though she knew Naruto was lying at the end of his statement about it being annoying. Hey had to keep up appearances for now of course.

Haku simply giggled at that before she added on "Who knows, maybe you'll attract more fangirls with that?" Which of course got her a semi-annoyed glare from Asuka. Because she wasn't wrong as the blond haired girl from sand was sizing him up from the other side of the stands.

Meanwhile Shikamaru was thinking about how he would have handled Yoroi, and felt that he would have had a hard time fighting that shinobi.

He pondered _That chakra absorption jutsu of his would have been trouble. Fortunately, since he could only use it from his hands, I probably would have come up with a strategy to deal with him before long. Heck, I wouldn't even be able to hold in shadow possession for long either more than likely. If I have to fight someone like that...I might actually have to not be laz-_

However, his thoughts were cut off as the next set of names appeared on the board.

'Shikamaru Nara Vs Shino Aburame'

Kakashi looked at the matchup and spoke out loud "Well, this might be interesting."

Naruto then asked "Why's that Sensei?"

Asuka answered for him with a whisper "They're both more...strategic fighters."

Naruto however sighed "Oh, this is gonna be boring then isn't it!"

Sakura would have punched him in the back of the head...if she also didn't think the same.

Haku however said "Actually Naruto...with what I've read up on their clans...this might be a close battle."

Shikamaru on the other hand, looked at the scoreboard with a tired look in his eyes before he spoke.

"...what a drag."

* * *

**Sakura: Well, this is new. Especially with Fu here.**

**WVH: Yeah, since we had Haku join and the Sound nins got their asses handed to them, had to fill the gap in somewhere. Besides that, it would make some amount of sense since she would have just went to the one in Suna later anyways. Plus as a fellow Jinchurikki, it'll give a bit more depth to things.**

**Naruto: That makes sense.**

**WVH: Plus she'll be in what's going to be the best fight of the prelims...no spoilers yet.**

**Asuka: Typical...also what made you come up with Shikamaru vs Shino?**

**WVH: Well, they're both strategic fighters. And since I had to change things up due to the missing sound nin, I thought pitting them against each other would be interesting.**

**Minato: I agree with this. A good battle of wits would be good to watch...er, read.**

**Shino: Indeed. Truth be told, I've always wanted to see just how well I would do against Shikamaru**

**Shikamaru: Troublesome, this match is going to be a drag for me...I might have to NOT be lazy for once.**

**Ino and Choji both blink and look at him.**

**Choji: Seriously? Are you okay Shika?**

**Ino: ...this might be the end of the world...**

**WVH: Oh you'll be fine. In any case, I hope everyone enjoyed the chapter! So R&R and be sure to come back for the next few chapters of the prelims...and don't worry, I'll try to not drag it out too long!**

**A Certain Redhead Magic Swordsman: By the way, when's our update?**

**WVH: Dangit Rune! Just be patient!**


	14. Chapter 14: A Bit of Strategy

**And its a double chapter day for the end of the year! Yay! So here's the next chapter...also a note to you guys who seem desperate for me to put Tsunade into the Harem. Again, not doing it. Besides, do you really want a 50 or so year old after him?...anyhow I need to run now before Tsunade realizes I made a shot at her age! Naruto you got it from here! *Runs away***

**Naruto: Okay Dattebayo! Ehem, WVH does not own the Naruto franchise or any part of it. Those belong to their respective owners. He does own this story, the super cool moves he comes up with for this story, and any OCs he puts in. There I got it Datteba-**

**Tsunade enters the room with flames in her eyes**

**Tsunade: Where is he?**

**Naruto points to where WVH left as he shivers from fear, to which Tsunade nods and walks in the direction of**

**Naruto: ...anyways...ENJOY THE CHAPTER DATTEBAYO!**

* * *

Chapter 14: A Bit of Strategy

"What a drag." Shikamaru thought as he looked at the scoreboard.

He couldn't help but feel that he mentally jinxed himself in this situation. He knew the specialty of Shino's clan and like him, fought in a more strategic matter. And that was a problem. Shikamaru could only control so many shadows at once with his shadow possession jutsu, and shino also had methods to absorb chakra.

"C'mon Lazy ass! Get in there or I will make you!" Ino barked at him, to which he let out a sigh.

He looked at the Aburame who had already made his way down the stage...and Kiba was yelling "Kick that Lazy Butt's ass! You got this!"

He then felt a hand on his shoulder, to which he saw it was his best friend Choji doing so.

"You got this buddy." Choji said.

Shikamaru looked at his friend, the crowd, and the stage below, and decided.

_Guess I got no choice. Ino and mom will probably kick my ass if I lose. Choji thinks I got this, and some of the people here look interested...guess I can't be lazy for once_.

However, he was brought out of it as a harder smack on his shoulder sent him over the railing, though he landed safely on his feet like a cat.

"C'mon man. You can kick his ass!" Naruto yelled with his grin.

Shikamaru sighed "This is gonna be a drag…" before he then walked to where his opponent and the proctor were.

"Are you two ready yet?" Hayate asked them after a cough. They both nodded and looked at each other.

"I've always wanted to compete in a battle of wits with you, Shikamaru-san. I could tell you only slept in our classes just because you grasped things that quickly." Shino spoke.

Shikamaru let a smirk come to his face as he replied "Is that so? Guess for once, I can't be lazy about this."

Those who heard him had different reactions.

Orochimaru's eyebrow cocked up in confusion. Hiruzen let a sweatdrop come down his face. Hayate looked at Shikamaru with a bit of surprise before he put on a pokerface. And Naruto looked confused.

"What's him not being lazy going to do?" Naruto asked out loud.

Both Minato and Kakashi answered him at once.

"When a Nara decides not to be lazy...it means they're going to pull something drastic."

Hayate then spoke "Match 2: Shikamaru Nara vs Shino Aburame. BEGIN!" as he swiped his hand down, and then jumped away from the battlefield.

Despite the go ahead having been given, neither fighter made a move, staring each other down. They then started to walk in a circle, neither beginning their attack just yet.

"What the heck! Kick his ass already!" Naruto and Ino yelled with annoyance.

Minato chuckled a bit and said "_Son, they already are fighting."_

"Huh?" Naruto replied out loud.

"_They're battling it out in their minds. Trying to guess what each of them will do, figuring out how to counter each others counters." _Minato explained.

_Uuummm...you mean like what they might do if the other throws a punch?_ Naruto spoke mentally.

"_Correct." _Minato nodded in approval.

However, the Kyuubi simply tapped her foot and commented "_Still...I'm with the boy on this, they should do something already!"_

And right as the Kyuubi made her statement, Shino then raised his hand and summoned the swarm of beetles from his body, and had them fly at Shikamaru.

"I keep forgetting he can do that. And I still don't get where they come from." Naruto commented.

Kakashi nodded and explained to the boy "Well, the bugs in fact live inside his body. Aburame clan ninja essentially have a mutual agreement with the insects."

Haku then finished the explanation "The agreement being that they help in fighting enemies, and the insects having a place to live and chakra to feed off of. The ones they use normally are chakra eating ones, making them quite useful in combat. Only downside is that some people think it is creepy and shun them for it, thus they can be a bit distant with others."

Naruto simply just gave a nod, which surprised Sakura, only for her to remember that Naruto himself knows just what it is like to shunned. Asuka wasn't surprised by this though, she knew it was just like Naruto to think on things like that.

As the insects flew at Shikamaru though, he shunshinned to the side, throwing several kunai towards Shino, who blocked them with his bugs...only for one to have an explosive tag and get set off on impact.

Ino then yelled "What the heck? I've never seen the lazy ass move that quick!"

Asuma was equally surprised, but then grinned. He then told Ino "Well...it looks like he's actually taking things seriously for once. He's choosing to not be lazy for once."

Ino then retorted "If he could do that he could have done so in our missions dammit!"

On the floor below, the smoke vanished to reveal Shino was no longer there. Shikamaru looked right and left, and then jumped back. As he did so, two hands came out of the ground, missing their chance to grab Shikamaru.

"Isn't that what you used on me before?" Asuka asked Kakashi, still in a 'Sasuke' tone since they were in public.

Kakashi nodded and explained "Yes, it's a combination of two jutsus. The first lets the user move through the ground as if though through sand, and the second one lets them drag the user into the ground and then solidify it in order to trap them."

As he explained it, Shino also sent a swarm of the chakra eating bugs at Shikamaru, who used the substitution jutsu with one of the floor tiles to get out of harm's way.

Shikamaru watched as Shino brought himself out of the ground, to which he responded to by sending his shadow out in an attempt to capture him as he came back to the ground. But as the shadow connected, he grimaced and disabled the technique as the Shino that stood there dissolved into a swarm of bugs.

"He can make clones with bugs too? Damn that's actually kinda cool!" Naruto said. He was now actually starting to get into the fight, which led to a few chuckles from Kakashi and Minato. Of course, Haku simply giggled.

Sakura in shock spoke "Wait, was he really this strong!?"

'Sasuke' then replied to her "He is. It's one of the reasons why out of all the genin in our class, minus the 'dobe', he's the one I respect the most."

Kakashi then added "Well, there is a saying amongst the Jonin...Don't fuck with the guy who can instant summon a horde of chakra devouring insects."

The team 7 genin simply nodded.

The horde of bugs then reached Shikamaru, only for them to pass through him. The real Shino then pulled himself out of the ground and looked at the scene.

"Hmm, a clone?" Shino spoke quietly.

"Well it doesn't use as much chakra as your bug one." Shikamaru spoke from behind him, surprising Shino as he then had his shadow capture Shino.

"How the heck did he do that?" Ino said in surprise.

Asuma put his hand on his chin as he said "Well...from what I can tell, he used one of the rarely used techniques of his clan. I don't know too much about it, except it allows them to quite literally travel through shadows."

Shikamaru held a kunai at the bug user's neck, of course Shino copied the action, but he didn't have a pouch where the shadow user had one, thus he held up nothing in front of him.

"Surrender. It'll be easier for both of us." Shikamaru spoke.

Shino calculated his odds at this. While he could easily have his insects attack him, he wasn't sure how fast the Nara would react. He was moving and reacting much faster than in their academy days. And if this was an actual fight, Shino already knew that at this point it would be over unless he wanted to take his opponent out with him.

He then spoke "I Shino Aburame, wish to withdraw from the match."

Hayate then asked "Are you certain?"

Shino nodded.

Hayate then announced "The winner of the second match is Shikamaru Nara!"

Shikamaru then released his jutsu and pulled the kunai away from Shino and put it away.

He sighed "Man, that was too much work…"

Shino pulled his insects back in before he held a hand out to the Nara.

"That was an excellent match. I have learned much in this fight. I hope we can compete again someday." Shino said.

Shikamaru shrugged before he gave him a handshake and said "Of course. Though next time perhaps something less troublesome, like Shogi?"

Shino simply nodded and then moved back up to the stands.

Kiba had the bottom of his mouth on the floor, in complete shock that Shikamaru, the laziest person in the class, beat his teammate that he knew well enough could kick his ass.

"What the heck!?" He yelled.

Kurenai was also shocked, but not as much. Hinata however had been listening to Kakashi, so she had a feeling that it would be much more even than most people would think.

She went over to Shino and told him "I-it's o-okay Shino-san. Y-you did well."

He nodded and replied "Do not worry Hinata. I actually enjoyed myself. It's interesting to fight opponents of similar mindsets. Plus it also means our comrades are simply getting stronger."

To that Hinata smiled…though then Kiba ruined it.

"Don't worry Shino! I'll be certain to avenge your loss as I go out there and kick ass! Yahoo!" he yelled.

Of course though, everyone, including Akamaru, thought Kiba was getting ahead of himself.

Over with Shikamaru though…

"Why the heck have you never pulled that with us!?" Ino screeched at him.

"How did you sneak up behind him at the end? That was cool!" Naruto asked.

Shikamaru sighed and explained "Essentially Ino, its called I don't like to exert myself. I prefer to be lazy. But since Shino is also a decent strategist, I had to play it a bit differently. And that one jutsu in particular I used took a lot of chakra out of me. Heck, I probably would have only been able to hold him in that last shadow possession for a few seconds longer, so I had to bluff it like I was still in control."

"Well damn. Guess when you aren't lazy you're kinda badass." Naruto told him.

To that, the blonde kunoichi simply sighed "Now if only you weren't lazy most of the time."

"That's Shikamaru for ya!" Choji said before he pulled out a bag of chips and snacked on it.

On the other side of the room, Temari was looking right at the shadow user and spoke out loud "Not bad…not bad at all."

Kankuro looked over at her and asked "What now?"

Temari replied "Oh, I was saying that Nara guy wasn't half bad. At least someone here fights with their brain rather than brawn…also by the way…"

She then pointed her finger over to the scoreboard to get Kankuro to look and see the names there.

Kankuro vs Misumi Tsurugi

"Alright then, here I go!" he said as he put he got himself up on the railing.

However, he paused his action as Gaara spoke to his brother.

"Do not embarrass us...or I'll kill you."

Kankuro made a short gulp and nodded, before he jumped down to the arena below. Meanwhile his opponent simply walked down the stairs like a normal person. He wore a similar outfit to Yoroi, except instead of shades he had a normal pair of glasses that showed his black irises behind them.

As they walked down Naruto looked and saw who was fighting.

"Hey, its the makeup guy!" He said with a grin.

Kankuro heard and swore that if he could, he would punch the little bastard. But right now, he had other things to deal with.

"While you may be a brat, I won't be letting my guard down like Yoroi did. So I suggest you forfeit now if you don't want to get hurt." Tsurugi said with an obvious sneer.

"Bitch, please." Kankuro said as he prepared himself by taking the bandage wrapped piece of luggage off his back.

Hayate sighed and then announced "Match 3: Kankuro vs Misumi Tsurugi. BEGIN!"

Just as the proctor stepped away, Tsurugi dashed in with a jab, which Kankuro easily blocked...however.

"Da fuck!?" Kankuro yelled as Misumi's arm stretched and moved like a snake across his body.

"That's just like Orochi-Pedo!" Naruto yelled.

Both Kakashi and Hiruzen spewed out spit in shock, most of the jonin looked at Naruto as if he had a death wish, and Anko was laughing her ass off. In the seal, Minato and the Kyuubi were both laughing their asses off since it fit the man to a T. As for Orochimaru…

_Don't kill him yet. Don't kill him yet. Don't him yet. Let the sand brat do it. _He repeated in his head.

"How the heck did you come up with that Naruto?" Kakashi said as he looked at the boy.

Haku ended up being the one to answer that.

"When we fought him before. Naruto asked him if he was one and even stated things that actually made the Sannin ponder enough to be distracted." Haku answered.

Kakashi looked at her, then back to him, and then to Sakura.

"Did that actually happen?" Kakashi asked, to which the cherry blossom girl gave him a nod. He couldn't tell whether he wanted to smack them for how stupid that was...or how proud he was that they could both distract and insult a Sannin to such a degree at the same time.

The comedic moment ended though when they heard a loud snapping sound, bringing their focus back to the arena below, where Tsurugi seemed to have broken Kankuro's bones by constricting him.

"He...he snapped his neck?" Lee said in surprise.

Tsurugi simply retorted "He wouldn't give up. So I simply killed him."

But then Kankuro spoke and turned his head...180 degrees, revealing a part of his face had...broken off.

"Is that right Stretchy? Let me return the favor!"

Wooden arms then popped out of the sides of his body and constricted 'Stretchy', and the rest of the face cracked away to reveal a puppet with three eyes and sharp teeth.

A bit away, the bandages over what everyone thought was a piece of luggage was none other than Kankuro himself.

"A p-puppet!?" 'Stretchy' yelled in shock.

"Felt like doing a bit of strategy after those last guys. Anywho, since you want to break my bones...I'll break every one of yours save for the neck...buh bye now Stretchy!" Kankuro said with a smirk.

"W-wait wait wai-" Stretchy tried to yell before with a flick of his fingers, the puppet went to break the poor man's bones.

After it was done, Hayate only had to take one, disgusted look before he stated "The winner of round 3 is Kankuro!"

As he went back up, Naruto couldn't help but say "Oh come on, two on one is unfair!"

Sakura then smacked him on the head and reminded him "And what does that make your shadow clone jutsu?"

Naruto let out a short "Gah!" as she basically blasted whatever argument he had. She even found it a bit funny as she had to stifle a laugh.

Meanwhile in the seal, the Kyuubi simply commented "_Quick and brutal. Though the theatrics were unnecessary. 6 out of 10"_

Minato simply sighed at this, as he knew it was just part of her nature.

Of course though, they both knew if anyone was going to be brutal, it would be Gaara.

They just hoped there wouldn't be a match between Naruto and Gaara anytime soon. Because anytime Jinchurikki fought each other, it tended to be quite chaotic. At least if it was the case of Fu she would probably not go for overkill.

Well, they hoped she wouldn't.

* * *

**Shino: Well that was interesting**

**Shikamaru: But it was such a drag**

**Kakashi: I will admit though, Naruto has quite a pair of balls**

**Naruto: You mean for the Orochi-Pedo joke? Eheheh**

**Orochi-Pedo: ...I blame WVH for this...I will kill him if I get the chance**

**WVH with bruises all over his face: Oh get in line.**

**Stretchy: Also why the hell did I get called Stretchy!?**

**WVH: Because you are ****forgettable**** and it is hilarious. Anyhow, I hope you all enjoyed ****the**** chapter! Be sure to R&R and come back next year for the next chapter!**

**A guy in a red military uniform: I hope you update the Magician again soon and give me some screentime WVH.**

**WVH: Edan not now!**


	15. Chapter 15: Blood Soaked Sand

**Finally here with the next chapter! It took a bit of time since I've been busy for the week since one, I work a 2nd shift job, and two, as a result I normally only have time to write either the hour or so before work or the 2 or so hours afterwards, or on the two days off I get each week. Other than that though, I've also been doing a bit of planning for this story as well as others so that it doesn't just become a story that only follows canon, but rather expands from canon once a certain point is reached.**

**Also to the one reviewer who caught that error I made in chapter 12, thank you for that, its been fixed. Its comments like yours that allow me to fix mistakes.**

**As for the Harem, I have mentioned at least 3 of the girls who will be in it (Asuka, fem Haku, Hinata), and will be trying to keep it from getting too large (after all, gotta give some of the other guys some pairings). Plus when you have too many, it gets harder to try and keep their personalities separate. Though there will be more added as the story goes on. Don't expect Tsunade, Mei, or Shizune to be put in it since I already have plans for those three.**

**As for Karin, decided to at least consider her, though it will also depend on whether or not I can come up with another pairing that could work for her. But that's up in the air for now.**

**Now then, let's get into the chapter. And yes, unlike canon, Tenten at least puts up a little bit more of a fight...also before anyone says anything...Asuka?**

**Asuka: Right! WVH does not own Naruto, be its characters or any part of the franchise. That belongs to its respective owners, be it the manga, anime, or etc. All he owns is the story, the techniques he comes up with, and any OCs added to the story.**

**WVH: To be fair, at this point technically since your personality and gender is different from canon, you're basically bordering on OC character.**

**Asuka: ...you're not wrong...anyway let's see what happens next!**

* * *

Chapter 15: Blood Soaked Sand

_The Tower, Forest of Death, Konohagakure, Land of Fire_

_With Kankuro_

Kankuro had a smug look on his face as he went up the stairs. He was pleased that he managed to win the prelims match...but then again, it wasn't as if he was up against one of the more troublesome threats.

There were at least four people in the room he was worried he would have been put up against.

_That Aburame kid would have been a pain in the butt. Those bugs of his would have screwed me over with their chakra eating bullcrap. And then there's Temari who knows how my puppets work...and Gaara...uuughh don't want to think about that. I feel bad for whoever has the shit luck with him...though there's also that Naruto guy. He may be a loudmouth, but he clearly ain't normal. _He thought as he went up the stairs.

As he rejoined his team, Temari gave him a complaint for drawing it out for so long, while Gaara gave him one glance before he returned his focus to the stage below. Though he did notice the boy twitch a little at his fingers.

His psycho of a little brother was getting antsy. Not exactly a good thing.

* * *

_With Fu_

"Wow that guy went down easy...what was his name again?" Fu said with a smirk on her face.

Her teammate ignored her question for the most part, as he didn't want to associate with her. Fu had let that be for the moment, since unlike their other teammate, this guy at least had the balls to stick around.

However, there was a response from elsewhere.

"_I forget. Though I gotta agree with that nickname the puppet guy called him though." _The Nanabi, Chomei spoke from with the seal she had on her body. He had the voice of a young boy, which she thought quite mismatched the beetle in his 'Biju' form.

_Then he'll be forever remembered as Stretchy_ she thought spoke to the beast.

As she looked at the medics pull the surprisingly still living 'Stretchy' off the arena floor and to where she remembered the infirmary was supposed to be, she couldn't help but think about the beast within her.

They had originally started on a bit of a rocky relationship, considering he was the main reason Fu had many, MANY grievances with her home village, save for a few such as Shibuki. Eventually though, she started to get used to the beetle's attempts at banter that she started to see him than more than just some stupid monster. Though there were times she would admit he was an idiot, though then again she had her own mistakes at times.

As she thought about this, she looked over to the blond haired boy a bit away. She was surprised that according to Chomei that said boy, Naruto Uzumaki, was in fact the Jinchurikki of the Kyuubi. That and through a verbal slip of her own biju, that the Kyuubi was female. That made her day. The fact the strongest one was female.

_The Kyuubi being female, eat that you sexist retards! _She thought in her mind with a smirk.

At first she was a bit worried about the possibility of having to cause a scene if they fought, but through the link of the Biju, they agreed that if a fight was to come between the two of them to avoid full force. She was quite fine with that. She didn't want another village to hate her too. Plus the guy seemed quite entertaining from what she had seen so far. The only other guy like that was the one who used bugs for his jutsu. She had to admit it was a bit interesting considering she had a giant bug trapped in her. Though Chomei took that as a slight insult.

What did worry her though…

_That one redhead...you said he's got the nutcase one right?_ Fu thought spoke to Chomei.

"_Yeah...Shukaku-nii kinda at one point started going murder crazy. Let's just say at least we're lucky the exam isn't being held in Suna. Else even with my help we would be screwed in a fight with him. He may only have one tail, but he's super duper strong in the right place." _Chomei replied.

Fu simply nodded, before then focusing on the arena below as the proctor stated that the next round would soon begin.

She wondered though _If I'm not against those two. Wonder who I'll be up against. I would like it if I got to fight someone that isn't a pushover. Even better if its a fistfight!_

* * *

_With Team 7_

Naruto and co meanwhile finished their own debate on the matter as they thought about the fights ahead. Naruto was getting a bit antsy since he had already been excited about the idea of a tournament.

"I really hope I get to go soon! Watching all of these fights so far makes me want to jump in and kick some butt!" Naruto said with his usual grin.

Though there was also the underlying thoughts.

_If I go against Chomei's Jinchurikki though, hopefully she knows that we can't go overkill here...plus I haven't gotten too far in that part of Kyuubi's training._

Within the seal, the Kyuubi merely replied in annoyance "_If you're saying you would lose to that fleshbag, while you're not wrong at this time, it would be an insult to me to lose to one of my siblings. So don't you dare even think about that brat."_

"_Don't worry about it too much for now Naruto. After all, according to the Kyuubi here, she won't go too overkill on the biju stuff...however, there are two other problems." _Minato spoke to him.

_Right...Orochi-pedo and Gaara. _Naruto thought.

"_You'll probably have to use the fox fire or specifically tailored seals at least against Gaara, even if it drags attention. As for Orochimaru though, he probably won't make a move in here. Even I would be a bit cautious to pull something in the presence of this many jonins and an enemy Kage." _Minato told the boy.

Naruto simply nodded as he knew that would probably be the best course of action.

As for Sakura, she was taking in each of the fights. And with each one, she felt ever so more grateful for her recent training. Heck, if she could, she would be hugging Lord Fourth right now. She was certain that without it, against any of the participants of the previous fights, she would be down on the floor either unconscious or crying. But now she could come up with ways she could counter them, though she had a feeling some were holding back at this time. Especially the first of the ninja from Sand.

Haku had similar thoughts to Sakura in that she was also analyzing the competition. That and she also was entertaining the image of what peoples' reactions will be to Naruto's growth outside of those that learned the truth, or at least part of it, about Naruto's current state.

And in 'Sasuke's' case, she was acting indifferent for the moment, but she was pleased that she moved past the prelims. And Asuka knew the others would likely pass since she knew what they were capable of. And of course, she also watched the battles in preparation of who she might have to fight later on. She was annoyed though she had to contain any excitement she might have for the moment since she had to keep the act up of 'Sasuke Uchiha, the duck haired emo edgelord himself.'

_That reminds me...whenever I do the reveal...I need to change this damn haircut! Maybe let it grow out a little?_ She thought to herself.

It was then that the scoreboard shuffled through names for the fourth time, which drew the attention of the team and the others in the room.

This time the names stopped on…

Sakura Haruno Vs Ino Yamanaka

"Well that's interesting." A jonin with black spiky hair and beard spoke from where Team 10 was. He had dark eyes and wore the typical vest and jacket combo of the jonins.

Sakura frowned for a moment at the thought of fighting Ino. They had originally been friends and split apart due to their obsession with Sasuke. And it was just recent that it turned out said obsession was pointless due to the truth that Sasuke was actually a girl named Asuka. She had even been thinking about trying to rekindle their old friendship.

But then she shrugged and cracked her knuckles as she thought _Well, better that it's me rather than someone else like that Gaara guy. Something about him just worries me..._

Naruto meanwhile, after a bit of a pout since he wasn't next, then told Sakura "You got this Sakura! Go in there, and kick some as-"

But before he could finish, Ino yelled out.

"Can I forfeit!?"

Some of the ninja looked at her in a bit of confusion, save for those who saw the destruction of the sound nin team, those who saw Team 7's fight with Orochimaru, and Kakashi, Gai, and Lord Third, the last of whom had actually seen the fight against the sound trio with his crystal ball earlier.

Though of course, Asuma asked her "...why?"

Ino just stared right in her sensei's eyes as she said "You want me to fight against a girl that can annihilate a team of genins alone AND had learned from Gai at one point?"

The remaining Jonin's eyes opened in surprise as they looked between the Yamanaka, the pink haired girl, and lastly, Gai himself, who simply gave them a nod to say it was true. They no longer felt the need to question her quitting the exam.

Kakashi couldn't tell whether he should be worried about his students fast rate of growth, or pride at the fact that his students were becoming quite powerful. He included Haku too since they made somewhat of a student-teacher bond over the previous month. Not as strong as her bond with Zabuza or Naruto, but it was there.

Asuma had his mouth open before he spoke "Okay then...you have a point."

Hayate just shrugged at this and made his announcement.

"Very well then. The winner of the fourth match due to forfeit is Sakura Haruno!"

There wasn't really any fanfare about it since the fight never really happened. Ino simply let out a breath of relief since now she didn't have to fight Sakura. After what she saw her do, she was 100% certain that fighting her would be very, VERY bad for her health.

The proctor coughed into his hand both due to his health and as a way to bring the attention back over to him.

"In any case, let's move onto the next match."

And like that, the board once again shuffled through the remaining names. Naruto had his fingers crossed and said "Come on! Come on! I wanna go next!"

Kiba was doing the same thing, and of course that made both boys look at each other with a glare that implied 'Hey! Don't copy me!'

However, both their hopes were ruined as the next set of names popped up.

Tenten vs Temari

"Darnit!" Both of the boys yelled, before looking at each other in annoyance again. To which Haku giggled while the rest sweatdropped at their antics. Well, Asuka was laughing a bit on the inside.

Meanwhile with Team Gai…

"ALRIGHT TENTEN! SHOW HER THE POWER OF YOUR YOUTH!" Gai and Lee yelled with enthusiasm at the same time, to which Neji just sighed at their antics.

He simply looked at her with a smirk that implied 'good luck'.

While ignoring the rants of the two, she showed her own smirk to Neji and then jumped down to the floor. Her opponent did the same action as well and landed across from her. The two stared down at each other, though Tenten was doing a bit of extra work.

_Hmm, from what I can tell that's a battle fan on her back, and since she's from Wind Nation, high chance she'll be using wind jutsu with it. So just throwing weapons around isn't going to help much… _she thought as she studied her opponent as she worked in her mind to develop a counter strategy.

However, she was cut from her musings as the proctor asked "Are you both ready?"

Temari simply gave a nod as a smirk appeared on her face, and Tenten replied to the proctor with a "Yes sir."

As the match was about to start, up in the stands Kakashi was also filing away his observations on the Suna genin before he spoke "This might not go too well for her."

"For who?" Naruto asked him.

Sakura, with a bit of a frown on her face, said "Tenten. She specializes in weapons, especially thrown ones. But from what I can tell, Temari might be a wind user."

Haku nodded as she also agreed with the statement. Asuka responded with the typical Uchiha 'hnn'.

Naruto, who also was a wind user, replied "Oh...well that sucks...but as she's my friend...kick her ass Tenten!"

Team 7 rolled their eyes at that, Minato and the Kyuubi let out a few chuckles from within the seal, and the spandex duo also cheered for her. Minus the profanity of course. As for Neji, for some reason that he didn't understand, he felt the slight urge to punch the blond boy. But he decided to let it pass. He assumed it was because the boy was acting like an idiot.

"Match 5: Tenten vs Temari. BEGIN!" Hayate announced and then jumped away from the battle zone.

Right as he did so, Tenten pulled out 10 shuriken and threw them at Temari, who with a chuckle, pulled at the fan from behind her back, opened it part way, and swung it at the projectiles.

With the swing, the shuriken were blown away, and Tenten had to jump to the right to avoid the gust of wind.

"Of course I get the wind user." Tenten sighed. She then cursed her luck since in this situation, the majority of her arsenal was useless.

But thankfully, unlike the rest of the remaining Leaf Genin, she and her team had a year's worth of training. That meant she had a few things that she could pull out of her sleeves as well.

She then dashed to the left as she dodged yet another of the blonde girl's devastating wind jutsus, which caused a miniature tornado to spawn where Tenten was previously.

"She's quick on her feet at least." Temari said with a smirk. She was happy that at least this opponent wasn't a complete pushover, but she was already preparing a strategy to finish this fight.

What happened next though nearly caught her off guard.

Tenten threw a pair of kunai at the Suna kunoichi, who smirked as she swung her fan again...but instead of blowing them away, seals that were attached to the kunai lit up before setting off an explosion.

_A smokescreen? Clever girl...but not clever enough!_ Temari thought before she swung her fan to clear the smokescreen. However, that had been Tenten's plan as she rushed Temari right as she swung her fan. She even nearly lost her grip to the ground with Temari's swing that cleared away the dust.

However, she was now in close combat range. She then tapped a bracelet on her wrist to reveal that it was a storage seal that held a katana, which she now held in her hands. She then made a horizontal slash at the Suna girl, only for it to be blocked by the fan at the last moment.

"Not bad. Though you're going to have to do better to beat me." Temari gloated.

Tenten retorted "I'm only just getting started."

"That right?...well I've already started." Temari retorted with a grin that bordered a sneer.

Up in the stands, Neji noticed the buildup of Temari's chakra, as well as the one handed seals she was making. While it went against his pride, for once, he decided to actually help his teammate.

"She's stalling you!"

Tenten looked at Neji in surprise, first at the fact that for once in a while, he was actually showing concern for one of his teammates. The second was at what he implied as she looked at Temari.

The blonde kunoichi sneered as she spoke "Too late. Wind Style: Great Breakthrough."

Temari then released a gale of wind from her mouth, and blew away the bun haired girl. She then quickly stopped the gale before using her fan's wind jutsu to then launch Tenten up into the air. As she went up, blades of wind made multiple scratches onto her body, causing her to lose the grip of her katana.

"UUGGH!" Tenten groaned as the injuries accumulated.

Lee and Gai looked on in panic, and while it wasn't on his face, Neji also felt a bit worried. After all, she was his teammate.

"Don't you dare lose so easy…" he muttered.

As if though she heard him, right as the wind jutsu stopped, she then flipped in the air so that she was facing the sand kunoichi below and pulled out two scrolls that opened up besides her, spiraling around her.

"I'm not done yet!" She yelled as she prepared her last attack.

"THAT'S IT! SHOW HER YOUR YOUTH!" Gai and Lee cheered.

Meanwhile the others cheered her on as well...though Naruto was thinking something else.

_Dad?_

"_Yes son?" _Minato replied.

_Is it just me...or do those scrolls have a FUCKTON of weapons in them?_ Naruto asked him in thought speak.

"_Yes. Yes they do." _Minato answered as he was thinking the same thing.

"_And the question is...is it gonna do jack shit?" _The Kyuubi commented.

With a wave of her hand, dozens of weapons were released from the scroll with more on the way, each of them connected back to the scroll with ninja wire.

Temari grimaced a bit at the onslaught, and then pulled her fan to the side before she opened it up all the way, with all three of the purple circles now in sight.

"Kamaitachi no jutsu!" she yelled as she swung her fan at the barrage of weapons. The weapons were not instantly brushed aside though as there was a lot more speed behind them than when Tenten had been throwing her weapons previously.

And so, the two attacks clashed, as the two girls yelled out at each other, charging as much power as they could into their two attacks.

However, the wind won out in the end.

The wind then pushed through the barrage and at Tenten, which lifted her higher into the air once more, the cuts this time too much for her to handle.

"Tenten!" Team Gai, Sakura, and Naruto yelled out.

She then fell towards the ground...right into the butt of Temari's now folded fan. The pain sent her into unconsciousness.

Naruto was gripping the edge of the railing, tempted to jump down there, but was stopped by Kakashi, who told him "Naruto, don't."

While the others looked at her with a bit of rage, Minato, Sakura, Haku, Shikamaru, the jonins, and Neji paid a bit more attention. The Hokage himself frowned.

"_Naruto, pay closer attention...she was falling down head first." _Minato told him.

_But what does that have to do with anything? For all we know, that sand bitch broke her back!_ He thought yelled, nearly letting his thoughts be said out loud.

Minato then retorted "_If she didn't catch her...she would have snapped her neck or worse after hitting the ground." _

Naruto's eyes then widened for a moment before he let his anger go.

The jonins, the Hokage, Sakura, Haku, Shikamaru, and Neji had also came to the same realization. They grimaced, but they chose to accept it.

Shikamaru however, was thinking a bit ahead of the rest of them.

_That sand nin had an advantage and was trying to hold back until that last jutsu...but she could have easily just let her hit the ground and be done with it, or even catch her in her arms instead...it's as if though she's hesitant about something. _The pineapple head boy thought

Temari sighed before she looked at the girl.

_If it wasn't for this damn plan Otou-Sama ordered us to do, I would have actually caught the girl instead. She deserved that much...but at least this way she's injured rather than dead...still think this is a horrible idea to be working with HIM of all people...but..._

She couldn't disobey their Kakekage's, her Father's, orders.

Neji then jumped down from the stands and walked over to her. She noticed him and then sent Tenten flying into his arms. She then walked by him and whispered loud enough for him to hear "Sorry about that…" as she walked away.

Neji simply nodded, not noticing that he had his Byuakugan activated as he wanted to glare at the Sand nin, but found that he simply couldn't. As in the end, despite the brutality, Tenten still lived. He then took a look down at Tenten as he waited for the medics to come over to the stage. When they did so, he set her on the carrier and then went back upstairs to his team.

* * *

_Meanwhile with the two waterfall nins_

Fu was looking at Temari in annoyance. She liked the attitude of the Konoha girl in that fight. She had a strong will to win despite the disadvantage between their fighting styles. Too bad it ended up the way it did.

"That was a bit brutal." she spoke out loud.

Her teammate retorted to her "And you aren't, monster?"

Fu sighed "This again, really?"

"I'm not wrong. Compared to her, you're a monster. And everyone from the village knows it. I still don't understand why Shibuki-sama tolerates you." The waterfall nin said to her.

Fu looked away from him in annoyance. A majority of the village was like that, treating her as if she was Chomei himself. And from what she knew, Chomei wasn't really all that bad. Yes he was a being of extreme power who on more than one occasion nearly caused catastrophe to the village...but he had the personality of a child who was a bit of a klutz.

"_Hey! I heard that last part!" _Chomei cried out in indignation.

Ku chuckled as she thought spoke _And am I wrong?_

Chomei tried to retort, but any argument he could use was invalid. Though he was inwardly happy that it at least got Fu's mind off of the current problems.

However, she was brought back to reality as the scoreboard made its beep as the next fighters were decided.

Gaara Vs Kichiro Joku

"Umm...you might want to forfeit this man…" Fu asked of him with a bit of worry for her teammate. She could tell that Gaara was the redhead who held the most bloodthirsty of the Biju.

The man replied "Oh please. Anything is better than having to deal with you bitch."

"Do you want to die?" Fu retorted to him.

"Yeah right, that redhead ain't got jack on me." he said before he walked over to the stairs down to the arena.

That word happened to strike a nerve with her. And she knew like most of the people who discriminated against her, he wouldn't listen to reason. So she decided to let him go without another word...though she groaned as she knew she was going to get a headache from her guardian figure when she got back.

* * *

_Back with Team 7_

"Is she gonna be okay Kaka-sensei?" Naruto asked Kakashi, still worried over the girl's condition despite the fact that at least she would live.

Kakashi eye-smiled and spoke "Well, from what I know she'll probably be fine after some time in the hospital."

"Ugh, I hate that place." Naruto replied in annoyance.

Sakura then asked him "Why would you hate the hospital?"

Haku however had the gist of it as she guessed "Problems with foxes?"

Naruto and Kakashi, who happened to know a bit about it, nodded in response.

"Yeah...they would never let me get treated there. 'We don't treat monsters.' they say. At least on the plus side there's one or two of the guys there that actually give a crap about the whole thing and at least gave some first aid if I needed it. Not that I ever really needed it much." Naruto replied.

Asuka asked "Wait, what do you mean by never needed it much?"

Naruto, Sakura, and Haku all replied at the same time "I/He heal/heals fast."

Asuka thought about asking how exactly the other girls also had the same answer to the question, but figured that maybe Naruto told them when she was unconscious earlier.

However, any further conversation was cut off as they heard a blood rattling scream from the arena below.

They looked over just in time to watch the waterfall nin, Kichiro, be crushed to death by a coffin of sand, courtesy of Gaara of course.

"Weak…" he said in annoyance.

Everyone had turned grimly silent. The only ones who didn't do so were the Suna genins and Jonin, who knew he would probably do that, and Orochimaru who was quite pleased with how the holder of Shukaku acted.

_Perfect. If that's how he is, then pitting him against Naruto later so that the Uzumaki brat can die will be oh so satisfying. _The Snake Sannin thought.

Meanwhile both Naruto and Fu were looking down at the boy with worry. He was clearly unstable and highly influenced by the one tail's thirst for blood. In response to one of their gazes, Gaara looked at Naruto dead in the eye, as if implying that he wanted to fight the blond ninja.

The proctor looked at the unstable boy in worry, and then towards the hokage above. He simply nodded, through with a frown on his face. While killing was looked down upon in the Third Exam, it wasn't exactly against the rules either.

"The winner of Match 6 is Gaara."

The redhead then retracted his sand back to its gourd...sand that was now soaked in blood. He then went back up the stairs.

As he did so, he quietly muttered.

"Soon mother...just wait for now...you'll have Uzumaki's blood…"

* * *

**Lee: That was unyouthfully brutal!**

**Naruto: Yeah, at least Temari tried to care at least, but damn Gaara**

**Gaara: Well, this was before I changed Naruto. Plus, in canon I had a much more difficult opponent. With how I was back then, if Lee was on that Waterfall nin's level, it would have likely ended the same.**

**Shino: He's not wrong. My reasoning would be the team he took out in the forest.**

**Sakura: Yeah, good point. Hopefully Naruto can change him here too.**

**Gaara: I would hope so.**

**Fu: Yeah...also WVH, what was with the name of that random teammate you gave me?**

**WVH: Oh, well his first name means "Good luck" and "Son", and the last name means "Joke." Get it?**

**Everyone: ...**

**Kyuubi: Oh that's just funny! *starts laughing due to her dark sense of humor***

**Asuka: ...you literally made him to be canon fodder for Gaara, didn't you?**

**WVH: ...I won't deny it.**

**Minato: Well in any case, I hope all you wonderful people enjoyed the chapter. Be sure to R&R and return for the next chapter. Hopefully it won't take as long.**

**Add: Speaking of...kekekek, WVH its time for Magician!**

**WVH: ...uh, gotta go bye! *runs from an annoyed Add and other Elsword ****Characters***


	16. Chapter 16: Failures No More

**And we are BACK! And I didn't get killed by Tsunade! So that's great. Though yes, chapters are coming out a bit more slowly now since I've been busy at work and all that stuff. Since its 2nd shift, its not like I have as much time to write. So likely Elsword: The Magician II will be set on a backburner to an extent. Though it also means that I will probably try to better set up what I want to happen in said series since its AU from canon in that one. In any case though, here's some responses to recent comments.**

**Not sure on the whole nee-san thing, but who knows. However, I will say that the Kyuubi will not be named Kurama in this case. Going with a more feminine name, which one of my friends recommended to me. As to what the name will be, its gonna be a while before I reveal that.**

**As for the Kiba thing, I already have an excuse for that which will be noted when Asuka reveals it.**

**And for Karin, still trying to figure out whether or not to add her to the Harem. Because unlike some writers who just drop the girls in and just imply they had a thing, I like there to be reasons why they came to like him, such as Hinata for his never give up attitude plus the whole helped her with bullies issue, Asuka since his cheery attitude managed to give her light in the darkest part of her life, and Haku with the the saving her life and how they have the joys of pranking in common with each other.**

**Also to the NaruHina hater, tough luck. While yes I can agree that they didn't have too many interactions before the movie, I still like the pairing. If anything, blame Kishimoto for that then.**

**BTW, for reasons, I'll at least start noting who are the current girls confirmed in the Harem each chapter**

**Confirmed Members: Haku, Asuka, Hinata, ? (will be noted in this chapter)**

**Now, before I forget, I'm just gonna be lazy and say I don't own Naruto. It belongs to other people. I just own the story, techniques, and whatever OCs I come up with, like that stupid Waterfall nin for example. Now on with the show!**

* * *

Chapter 16: Failures No More

_Still the freaking Tower, Forest of Death, Konohagakure, Land of Fire_

The mood in the room was a bit somber as several Konoha ninja had went to clean up the damage from the previous fights...the main reason being the remains and blood of the now deceased waterfall nin.

Fu honestly couldn't tell if she felt bad for the guy, or decided he got what he asked for. Just like the rest of the waterfall villagers, he didn't want to listen to her. All because of the fact she happened to be their village's Jinchurikki.

As for the Sand nin, they weren't as disturbed as the rest of the viewers, as they all had a feeling Gaara would do that. They all knew his tendencies due to the hellish 'training' his father put him through, even if it meant his one daughter would hate him for it. Though unfortunately for Temari, it's not like she could reprimand him without repercussion. She learned that the hard way a long time ago.

As for Team 7…

"Man that brought down the mood we all had dattebayo." Naruto spoke as he observed the surroundings.

"Indeed." Kakashi replied as he read one of his orange books...which he put a genjutsu cover on to avoid the book being burned to ash by Kurenai.

Asuka simply looked over to where the redhead boy was, and spoke "Just what is he though?"

Naruto then spoke low enough to speak to his team alone "Well...from what THEY said...one tail. AKA the crazy one."

Haku replied "Oh...well that's troubling…"

"Well, I'm sure we could handle it, right?" Sakura asked them.

Naruto pondered for a moment as he looked at the boy from across the room. And for a moment...he thought he could see something...something familiar.

He then shook his head, but right before he could answer the pinkette, Kakashi answered in his stead.

"Well, depends really. Worst case, you're dealing with a giant tanuki with sand power. Best case, what you just saw on the arena floor. Though out of the 4 of you...Naruto and Haku would have the best chance."

"And how is that?" Sakura asked.

"And why not me or Sakura?" Asuka asked as well.

Kakashi put his book away as he pondered "Well, those two have ways of dealing with his sand, such as Haku's ice and Naruto's...specialities. 'Sasuke', right now you don't have a way to get through his sand, plus you would need to improve your speed to not get caught, though that's improvable. And Sakura, your problem is that you're a close range specialist with no way to puncture that defense. So you would have to rely entirely on speed, which would likely exhaust you...even if you use the gates...also by the way, when were you going to tell me about that?"

"Eheheh." Sakura said as she scratched the back of her head.

And Naruto commented "Don't worry Sakura, I'm sure if you wanted to you could power of youth it to kick his bu-"

Though he was caught off as the pinkette yelled "Shut up Naruto!" and punched him on the top of his head out of both annoyance, and embarrassment.

Of course, Haku giggled and Asuka sighed as she couldn't really go over there to help him without raising questions.

Though of course any bump he did get on his head would not heal long after due to his regenerative capabilities.

After recovering, he then pumped his fists to get motivated and yelled "Alright, I gotta show off to get peoples' minds off that stuff and show em their next hokage!"

Asuka let out a quick smile before putting it away to keep the 'Sasuke' persona going. In her mind, she was slowly getting more and more annoyed that due to the circumstances, she couldn't be herself and couldn't really show affection for the boy she loved in public.

_Ugh, acting like this was annoying enough before!...maybe reveal it in the finals? _The ravenette thought.

Sakura would have hit him for that, but since he was also trying to improve the mood...she let it slide. With a hint of a smile on her face.

_Typical Naruto. _Sakura thought.

Haku noticed it though and let a grin come across her face.

_Oh I am going to enjoy teasing her later for that. _The ice user thought with glee.

And of course, Kakashi did his typical eye smile.

Right as he made his announcement, the mood in the room turned a bit more normal due to the boy's antics...save for right next to Gaara. Can't exactly feel excited or anything when standing next to the psycho killer himself.

Fu looked at the Kyuubi's jinchuuriki and spoke out loud "Well, at least he's got his mind in the right place."

Within her own seal, Chomei nodded in agreement.

And a bit away from Team 7, Hinata smiled as she watched Naruto's antics.

_That's the Naruto I know!...well, sort of. He's got those ears and tail now hidden under seals by the looks of it. I wonder if he'll let me touch the-wait wait wait, what if they're sensitive? Would it be lewd!? I don't know! _She thought as her mind started to run a mile a minute. Kurenai noticed her pupil blushing as she looked over at Naruto and smiled.

She knew about the crush the young girl had. Honestly Kurenai didn't even mind it. It would help her self-motivation. Heck in their personal training sessions, she even used genjutsus of Naruto in an attempt to motivate her...and lo and behold, she would do much better...as long as she didn't faint first.

But before anything else could happen, Hayate announced "The arena has been cleared...finally. So we will now continue!"

The scoreboard then flashed the remaining set of names before it stopped on those who would be competing in the next match.

Naruto Uzumaki vs Kiba Inuzuka

"Yes! Finally!" Naruto yelled in excitement.

Kiba also yelled as "Yes! Thank you RNG! We can easily kick his ass, right Akamaru?"

However, his dog decided to be silent on the matter.

"Eh, Akamaru, come on, he's the deadlast...right?" Kiba asked the dog, a bit confused. He then shrugged and made his way to the arena floor where Naruto was already standing and waiting. As Kiba got down to the floor, he noticed something a bit strange, and supposed it must have been what Akamaru caught on.

_That's weird...he smells a bit different...like...foxes? _The Inuzuka boy thought.

He then shook his head and yelled "Ah doesn't matter! I'm still gonna kick your ass! If I don't, I'll wear that retarded jacket for a month!"

It was at this point, all the genins who knew Naruto's current power level all thought the same thing. Even Neji let a smirk hit his face. Well except Hinata who didn't really think the jacket was that bad on Naruto.

_Well Kiba's going to bite those words._

In the seal, The Kyuubi said "_Oh now you can't lose this! Just imagine how stupid he'll look. It might not fit you well, but it'll be so much worse on him!"_

Minato ended up chuckling a bit at the Kyuubi's idea on the matter.

Naruto of course retorted "Oh come on! Not you too! UUUGGHH. You're gonna regret those words Kiba! Also, screw deadlast! If anything, that's you now!"

Hayate then looked at the two of them, well three of them, and then announced the start of the match.

"Match 7: Naruto Uzumaki vs Kiba Inuzuka, BEGIN!"

As the proctor jumped away, Akamaru jumped off Kiba's shoulder and Kiba cracked his neck a bit.

"Are you ready for the ass kicking loser!? Cuz I fucking got this!" Kiba said with a smirk.

Naruto then said in response "Is that right?...well, then…"

Naruto made a single handsign, and after a plume of smoke engulfed the arena...Kiba found himself surrounded by 30 shadow clones of Naruto.

"What about this dog breath?" the Narutos asked him in mischievous glee.

Everyone in the stands, save for the Hokage, Anbu, and the other members of the rookie 13 looked in astonishment. Even Orochimaru was surprised. And Gaara was starting to smile that insane reeking smile of his.

_That many Shadow Clones at such a young age!? And he's clearly holding back and not even using the Kyuubi's chakra. Uggghh, I want to experiment on the boy, but I also want to murder him dead! DAMMIT! _Orochimaru thought, conflicted.

"Um...we got this...right Akamaru?" Kiba asked his partner as he looked in fear at the multitude of Naruto's.

However, Akamaru on the other hand...he simply raised his paws in surrender. He knew they were outmatched.

"Well...It doesn't fucking matter! I'm the Alpha! And 0 times 30 is still 0! So watch as I kick your ass! LEEROOOY JENKINSSSSS!" Kiba yelled as he rushed the clones. Akamaru meanwhile decided to step to the side for this one. While he was loyal to Kiba, he knew the blond boy, er, boys, would at least not kill Kiba. Plus he too thought Kiba needed an ego adjustment.

What followed was basically a brutal, ego stomping beatdown of the Inuzuka by a bunch of orange clad Naruto clones. The crowd would have felt bad for him if it wasn't for the fact that he chose to run straight at the blond with no plan whatsoever, even more so at the fact that despite how he was getting his ass kicked by Naruto, he kept getting up. Well, some people didn't know whether to respect that, or facepalm at that.

"Screw the name Deadlast indeed it seems." Neji spoke as the beating was just about done. He was able to get a better guess at the boy's current power as he watched the fight with the Byakugan.

Along with the facts that he had seen the boy before one time Hinata was watching Naruto train, and he had seen the aftermath of Naruto's fight with the Sannin, Naruto had improved immensely. He just didn't know if it was due to luck, or whatever training the boy pushed himself through.

As the dust settled after Naruto dispelled his clones, it revealed an unscathed Naruto...and a broken and bruised all over Kiba, and Akamaru at his side trying to comfort at least some of the damage done.

Hayate looked over at the now twitching boy on the ground, and announced the result.

"The winner of the seventh match is Naruto Uzumaki!"

Naruto did a little victory pose at that, much to Haku's amusement, and Asuka's glee though she had to hide her expression sadly. Meanwhile Sakura merely facepalmed at the last part since he was basically showboating.

As for Kiba's own team, Shino was simply shaking his head at Kiba's stupidity and Kurenai was trying to understand how the Deadlast of their year was somehow so powerful, though considering his hair and eyes, Kurenai did have a few accurate guesses. Hinata was simply beaming as she watched the boy she had a crush on. He had become much stronger. And if he could improve despite the hells he was put through, she felt that she too could surpass the title of 'failure'.

While Naruto was getting it out of his system, a group of medics came onto the arena to get the boy, one in particular walked in front of the boy. It was a woman with brown hair put into a ponytail in the back as well as two bangs that framed her face. And lastly were her black eyes and red clan markings on her cheeks noting her as an Inuzuka.

She then bopped the younger Inuzuka's head, which brought him out of his unconscious state, just to notice the woman in front of him. He looked a little worried as she scowled at the boy.

"Kiba...what's lesson 4?" She asked him.

"Ummm...was it 'not fuck up' Hana nee-san?" The boy answered.

"No idiot. It's not underestimate your enemies. And what did you do?" Kiba's older sister asked him.

Kiba groaned "I underestimated him…"

Hana smiled as she said "Good boy. Though mom will probably make you do extra training. Though at least Akamaru isn't hurt."

She then grabbed Akamaru since Kiba wouldn't be holding the dog anytime soon, and gave the blond boy a nod. She like the other members of the Rookie 13 hoped this would help reel in Kiba's ego. As her way out though, she happened to look towards Asuka and had a tinge of a frown on her face. As if she was reminded of something.

Naruto had noticed it, a bit muddled but decided to let it be for now. Though he did guess that Asuka might know something about it at least.

After Kiba, the medics, and Hana Inuzuka left, Naruto went back upstairs to where his team was with a big grin on his face. As he went back up, Hayate smiled.

"The kid sure has grown…too bad she had to miss this." he said to himself.

"That's 3 victories for team 7! We just need Haku-chan to win and then bam! All of us will be in the finals!" Naruto shouted in his glee. And he wasn't wrong either, so far other than Gaara's team, they had the most members to pass the preliminaries.

Haku replied "True Naruto-kun. Though there are still other powerful opponents still in the running. Though at least I don't have to worry about fighting any of you three just yet."

Asuka smirked as she said "Well, we'll see how the finals go. Truth be told, I do want a bit of a rematch Haku." And she wasn't lying either. She honestly wanted a rematch.

Haku smirked back and said "Is that so? Well, I'll look forward to it."

Sakura merely sighed at their antics. Though she did have to admit, she too wanted to see where she was at compared to her teammates. They had their spars, though they had always held back a bit. Though in Sakura's case, it was more along the lines of not wanting to use the whole 'power of youth' thing.

Their banter were interrupted however as the next set of combatants were chosen.

Hinata Hyuuga Vs Neji Hyuuga

"This could be troublesome…" Kakashi said as he closed his book.

Naruto asked the man "Why is that Kaka-sensei? They're related like family right?"

"Because...Hinata is of the Main House of the family, and Neji the Branch House. And there has been tension between some of the two houses for a while…Neji being one such case." Kakashi answered the boy.

Naruto looked confused at the man's answer until Minato elaborated.

"_Essentially the Branch members are meant to 'protect' the members of the Main House. Though that's sugarcoating it. It more like the Branch House are slaves to the Main House due to the use of a curse seal meant to both seal the Byakugan upon death...but also allows Main House members to punish them through the seal."_

_WHAT!? That's stupid! And Hinata doesn't seem like the kind of girl to force that on people! _Naruto thought spoke to his father.

Minato then added "_Well, it's more of the clan's damned elders. Heck before my death, me, your mother, and the Hyuuga family head, Hinata's father, were working in secret on a way to remove the seal. Though of course, you know what happened."_

The Kyuubi, currently in her humanoid (fox girl) form pouted as she said "_Hey, that wasn't exactly my fault in that case. I may like destruction and hate having my freedoms restricted, but I don't exactly like killing those who don't deserve it. Blame the fucking masked bastard."_

Naruto and Minato both nodded to that. After all the Kyuubi wasn't exactly in her right mind when she had been released upon the village. Plus from what they had seen so far, she wasn't all that bad...though she did have her destructive tendencies.

The Kyuubi then added on an additional comment.

"_Though...I do sense a lot of negativity from that boy...it's not directed directly at her though…"_

As that went on over with Team 7, Hinata and Neji both walked down to the arena floor and faced down with each other. Hinata was looking a bit nervous, while Neji was giving his cousin a bit of a glare.

"N-Neji-nii-san" Hinata spoke as she greeted him.

"Hinata-sama…" Neji spoke with a bit of venom in his tone.

Hayate sighed as he could tell this match might not end well based on what he knew and how the two acted.

"You should just quit here Hinata-sama. You aren't capable of defeating me. It would be pointless." Neji spat at her.

Hinata tried to speak up, but couldn't find the words. The part of her that wanted to prove him wrong, and the part of her that felt like the failure she had been called by her clansmen conflicted with each other. She had not won a majority of the spars in the clan, though the few that understood her knew it was simply due to her gentle nature.

So she looked down as she stuttered "I-I…have g-gotten b-better..." Though of course Neji looked as if he wasn't buying it.

Naruto was a bit annoyed at how Neji was acting. He had originally been conflicted at who to root for in this case, but he was now certain who to cheer on.

"You got this Hinata! Believe it!" Naruto cheered from the stands. Of course, literally all the members of their class besides the boy himself knew the girl had a crush on the boy. And so as a result...

"Neji-nii san...I have improved. Even if I don't win...I'll show you that just like Naruto-kun that I am no longer a failure." she spoke as she got into her juken stance. Her pose much more confident now.

Neji's eyes widened at her response, it was probably the first time he heard her NOT stutter. He then looked over at the orange clad ninja and thought _Right, she has a crush on him._

Upon further thought, he considered how despite he was originally the Deadlast of his year, he ended up stepping out of that title when the opportunity came. He then looked over at the heiress...and then stopped glaring as hard as he got into his own juken stance.

"Very well then Hinata-sama...show me then just how much you've improved. I'll decide whether or not you're no longer a failure however."

Hayate couldn't help but smile a bit there as it seemed the tension shifted to something much more...manageable.

Meanwhile Naruto had his mouth wide open as he had never heard Hinata sound so confident and not stutter. Meanwhile Minato nodded as his actions gave the girl the boost she needed...and of course, the Kyuubi was laughing at the poor boy's confusion.

"Match 8: Hinata Hyuuga Vs Neji Hyuuga. BEGIN!" the proctor announced.

Much to everyone's surprise, the first to move was Hinata herself, as she dashed in and started to throw several juken strikes at Neji. While he was caught off guard for a moment, he swatted away a majority of them, though a couple of her strikes managed to hit home and do some damage to some of his muscles on his arms. However, he launched his own counterattack when an opening appeared, forcing Hinata back.

"Well, you've never fought this well before. Did Uzumaki cheering you on give you that much motivation?" Neji asked her while he thought of his next move.

Hinata simply nodded back...though with a bit of a blush on her face.

Neji decided to take advantage of the moment and started his assault on the girl, which she reacted to quick enough to handle head on.

Soon enough the two were making a series of swipes, palm strikes, and even finger strikes at each other, along with said attacks being dodged, parried away, or landing home on some part of their bodies.

The members of Hinata's class were honestly surprised. They had never seen the girl so motivated before...save for at least three of them. Asuka due to the fact she had a feeling as to why Hinata normally held back, Naruto since he hadn't really seen her skills enough to make an assumption, and Kiba since he wasn't even there at the moment since Naruto had sent him to the infirmary.

Also up in the stands, Kurenai had a pleasant smile on her face. For once in a while, her student was actually confident and displaying herself to her full ability. It was even better than the training sessions she had with the young girl

_Oh, if only those damn Elders could see her now. Their reactions would have been priceless _she thought.

However…

Hinata's eyes widened in surprise as she stepped back, and she quickly pulled up on of the sleeves on her arms, seeing that it was now riddled with several pinpoint strikes from Neji's attacks.

"Y-You can see Tenketsu!?" She asked him in surprise.

Neji nodded and spoke "Yes...as a result, your left arm can no longer use Juken."

However, on the inside, Neji was still impressed with how the girl managed to only have ONE of her arms now disabled. He wanted to get both of them, but the girl had managed to avoid the attacks on the other arm.

"Again, you should surrender. This match is clearly in my favor." he spoke.

Everyone looked a bit nervous, though she simply looked at her crush and spoke back.

"I won't. As the boy I care the most about had said to himself over and over...I'll never give up, that's my ninja way!" Hinata said as she prepared herself once more in her juken stance.

Haku caught what she meant and giggled at the thought.

"Wow Naruto-kun, you're quite the lady-killer." she teased the boy.

"What do you mean?" Naruto asked her.

"Think about what Hinata just said…" she said with her mischievous grin.

He processed it for several moments...before he then turned around, and hit his head on the wall.

It was at this point of time that both Shikamaru and Choji ended up handing Ino a portion of their money while she grinned.

"Dammit, we shouldn't have made that bet on how long it would take him to realize that." Shikamaru muttered. To which Choji put a hand on his shoulder to share their mutual grief over lost money.

In fact, several of the Anbu were also doing similar things as they too had their bets on the manner. The Hokage was smiling both at how his grandson figure was growing up...and how he managed to make enough of a killing that it made up for the other bet he lost with Kakashi.

"Finally figured it out baka?" Sakura said to him.

Naruto walked back over to the railing and asked "Is that why you always said no when I asked you out?"

Sakura replied "Part of it...and also because you're an idiot...though not as much of an idiot as before at least."

Naruto sighed "True enough...though I dug my own grave when I jinxed myself when we were dealing with that problem. Hopefully Hinata is the last one I apparently was too dense to notice."

Of course, both the Kyuubi and Minato sweatdropped as they both thought of one such person.

* * *

_Ichiraku Ramen, Konohagakure, Land of Fire, Same time_

"Achoo!"

"You alright Ayame?" an older man asked the brown haired girl that just sneezed.

"I'm fine tou-san, probably just someone talking about me." the girl said. She had long brown hair, dark eyes, fair skin, and a smile that always bought them customers.

Teuchi, her father, merely grinned and said "Maybe it was your little crush saying something about you, eh?"

"TOU-SAN!"

* * *

_Back at the Arena_

They then decided to quit the banter for the moment as the battle below continued. However, things were slowly turning in Neji's favor.

He had started to get more and more blows in, though Hinata still managed to get a few of her own attacks in as well. As a result, both of them had bruises all over their bodies, though in Hinata's case, the only visible ones were on her sleeves due to her jacket covering most of her body.

They then split up once more. While both of them were out of breath, Hinata seemed more so. Though to her, it was still an accomplishment that for once in her life, she was actually giving her cousin a challenge.

"Again...give up Hinata-sama...you won't win." Neji spoke between breaths.

Hinata retorted back to him "As I said...b-before...even if I d-don't...win...I'll prove I'm no longer...a failure."

Neji felt both contempt...and pride at the same time. While yes, he hated the Main House...he couldn't bring himself to hate her on the same level. Yes she was a member of said house, yes she had no shown any skill until just now, but in comparison to the rest of them, she actually showed that she gave a damn about the Branch House. So in comparison to the rest, he didn't hold as much against her.

He then smirked as he decided on how to finish the fight.

"Very well then...prepare yourself." he said before he dashed in, forcing the adrenaline in his body to carry him forwards.

This time however, she was overwhelmed. The fatigue of her body finally overcame her willpower, and as a result, despite dodging or blocking several of the attacks, a multitude of Hinata's tenketsu were sealed, causing her to fall to the ground, no longer able to move as she feel onto the floor, with her eyes staring at the ceiling.

The proctor looked at the girl. He could tell she could no longer continue. He nodded as he announced "The winner of the 8th match is Neji Hyuuga!"

Naruto frowned a little at the outcome. He was a bit sad that she still lost despite her hard work. That and of course he would cheer even harder for someone who truly cared about him. He could tell the words she had spoken earlier were genuine.

Neji then walked so that she could see him above her, and then spoke.

"I told you I would win...but...I will admit...you were right about one thing."

He smirked as he said "You are no longer a failure. Seems fate isn't as strong as I thought."

Hinata smiled as hard as she could from that. Happy that for once, one of her family members, other than her little sister, had actually praised her.

But then of course Neji landed one last blow on her. He wanted at least a bit of revenge for the damage she had done on him.

"Though I never expected you to be confident enough to essentially confess to the Uzumaki. Have fun with that." he said to her. By now, her confidence boost from Naruto was just about gone. As a result, the girl's face went red to a level that the older ninja could compare her face to Kushina Uzumaki's hair, and thus passed out.

Naruto meanwhile headbanged the railing as Neji had essentially reminded him of how dense he had been to not notice there were in fact girls crushing on him. Haku merely thought of how fun it would be to tease the poor bluenette later. Asuka smiled as she was happy Hinata finally got the courage to do so, even if it was just a spur of the moment thing.

As for Sakura, she was finally happy that Hinata got the guts to do so finally. While yes, she was focused on gaining 'Sasuke's' affections in the past, she wanted to help the Hyuuga girl as she thought it was adorable the way the girl crushed on Naruto. Plus she didn't exactly like the idiot at the time since he was constantly asking her out plus what her mother told about the boy.

It was at that moment, Sakura's thoughts moved on a tangent.

_Wait...is mom one of the people who hate Naruto due to the whole Kyuubi thing? That would explain why she always told me to stay away from him._

"_**Oh definitely. She calls him things like demon spawn and all that, though other than his pranks, Naruto-kun doesn't deserve that cha!" **_her Inner self replied.

_And to be fair, it's strange how she never acts like that toward anyone el-wait, did you call him kun? _

As their little conversation went on, Hinata was taken by the medics to be brought over to the infirmary as Neji then walked back up the stairs, greeted by Gai with a HUGE grin on his face.

Nothing needed to be said though as both knew what they were thinking on the manner. Though of course even if they did, it wouldn't matter as the next set of names were shown on the scoreboard.

Lee vs Fu

Within the seal, the Kyuubi and Minato smirked as they then commented at the same time.

"_Oh, this is gonna be good_."

* * *

**Naruto: Well, that was fun**

**Hinata: And I'm happy that I actually put up a better fight here than in canon**

**Haku: Don't forget that you confessed to Naruto-kun too**

**Hinata: Haku-san!**

**WVH: That and Ayame is now implied to like him too. And maybe Sakura.**

**Ayame and Sakura: WVH!**

**Kakashi: Lady-killer indeed. Makes me wonder how many girls WVH has plans to give Naruto. Hopefully he leaves some for the rest of us**

**WVH: Oh don't worry. I even got a pairing planned for you too.**

**Kakashi: ..wait what?**

**WVH: Anyways, to the fans, thanks for your support so far and I hope you enjoyed the chapter! Be sure to R&R, as well as come back for the next chapter!**

**Kyuubi: Though that depends on how much you slack off**

**WVH: I'm not that bad**

**Kyuubi: Fire Emblem?**

**WVH: ...touche**

**Kakashi: Wait! Answer my question! Just wh-**


	17. Chapter 17: Explosive Conclusion

**Yes I know, its been more than a week, but here's the next chapter! This one took a bit longer since it diverges a bit from canon since Fu didn't originally make her appearance in the Konoha Chunin Exams in canon, plus her abilities her never really fully gone over. Thus I had a bit of creative freedom in abilities she can use. And before you ask, yes, she can still use the ninjutsu that she has in the show and anime, but you'll see what I have in mind for her. **

**As for some of the comments...**

**First off, sorry but I do like Hinata. Though yes, she does need some amount of character development. Like becoming more confident about herself to a level she doesn't always need Naruto to motivate her out of it. Though of course it isn't NaruHina centric, so rest easy on that part. And all the girls will have things to boast about at some point, so she'll get there.**

**Second, as for the CRA thing, Naruto doesn't really know too much yet, and I kinda plan for it to be dropped on him in a comedic way. Basically he'll eventually just go along with it. But to make you all feel better, he gets to choose, not the dumbass council. And besides, its not like he'll be the one inviting the girls...rather they'll want in XD**

**Third, as for Orochimaru's substitution, I was thinking more along the lines of he got scared enough that he wasn't thinking straight to just use that to get out of the way. Though yes, I will have characters use it when necessary.**

**Fourth, with the Yoroi thing...yes that isn't how it works in canon, but I made it this way in here. I just think of it as while the Rinnegan's path can absorb chakra ENDLESSLY, Yoroi can only absorb so much. So in this case, think of his abilties as a downgrade to that Rinnegan path. Also, he isn't seen again anyways after the preliminaries in canon (unless he's in Naruto filler for some dumb reason), so does anyone really care?**

**And Five, Ayame will be joining the harem, though I got another plan for Fu. **

**In any case, I'll just say I don't own Naruto and its stuff. Just the story here, the OCs, and custom techniques are what I own. Now enjoy the chapter!**

* * *

Chapter 17: Explosive Conclusion

_Hopefully the last time at the damn Tower in the Forest of Death, Konohagakure, Land of Fire_

Kakashi saw the names on the board and decided to put his orange book away for once in a while.

"Well, this might be a good match. And no Naruto, it won't be a strategy one." he said, also having answered the question Naruto was about to ask.

It was Sakura who then asked him "Is this Fu person also a specialist in Taijutsu or something?"

Kakashi simply nodded at that. Sakura pondered for a bit at the man's answer.

Asuka looked over at the now ecstatic boy in green tights that seemed quite hype at finally getting his chance to get in the ring, and the girl that pumped her fist about finally getting the chance to get down in the arena. The Uchiha girl disguised as a boy then activated her sharingan. From what she knew based on Sakura's fighting style, Lee would be fast. Likely faster than the pinkette. Meanwhile, the mint haired girl was a mystery at the moment.

Though if she was also a taijutsu user, Asuka thought that it might be a good idea to memorize their styles to bring into her own. Fortunately, at least for Gai's techniques, she could imply she got them from Sakura.

As for Naruto…

_So then that means it'll be some sort of super awesome fist fight, right? _Naruto asked his father and the Kyuubi with his thoughts.

Minato nodded as answered "_Most likely. Based on Lee's style of clothing and what we know from Sakura, he is much like Gai and Gai's own master. As a result he'll use taijutsu that focuses on speed and power."_

"_And from what I know, due to how Chomei's jinchuuriki ability works, that girl can take a hit and hit back with brute force. So yes, this will be interesting to watch. Well...as interesting to watch as two genin fleshbags fighting each other could be." _The Kyuubi added to Minato's response.

The two fighters then both jumped over the railing and down onto the arena floor across from each other, with Hayate in between them.

"Yoosh! Time to show the power of YOUTH!" Lee said with excitement.

Fu pondered for a moment, and then asked the boy "Hey question. Want to keep this to taijutsu only? Hasn't been enough of that in here. Plus that fight between those two Hyuugas has gotten me a bit hyped."

Of course, Lee being the ever so honest person he was, proclaimed "Not to worry! I can't use anything other than taijutsu anyways! It's my goal to prove even without nin or genjutsu, I can be a splendid ninja!"

Of course, everyone besides Gai sweatdropped at his proclamation, as he literally revealed what his main weaknesses would be in a manner of speaking.

Sakura of course facepalmed. She knew about it, and while yes, it was a respectable goal, he basically yelled at his enemy "Please use genjutsu on me!"

However, much to everyone's surprise, Fu simply laughed and said "Is that right!? I like that! That sounds kinda cool if you think about it! I can use a few ninjutsu, but I prefer tai anyways. So whatever you called it...power of youth I think...let's show them our power of youth then"

It was at this point everyone other than the boy in the ring, the blonde ninja boy, and the spandex wearing sensei all had their jaws hit the floor.

_D-did she just get converted to Gai's youth-ism!? _They all thought. Even Orochimaru was thinking on the same line as them.

Meanwhile Naruto pointed at them and said "...is it just me...or am I vaguely seeing that weird genjutsu Lee and Gai use normally?"

Both Minato and Kyuubi replied at the same time "_...we're just gonna pretend we didn't see that…stop copying me. I said stop copying me. What are an Uchiha? STOP!"_

Though of course, Naruto wasn't really paying attention to their bit of an argument about who was copying whose words.

Gai meanwhile had his thumb up as he spoke "That's right! Show them the power of YOUTH!" He also felt pride for another reason he couldn't quite understand, but chose not to care. He was also interested in the match from what they knew based on the mint haired jinchuriki's dossier.

Hayate managed to get himself back together and then made his announcement.

"Ehem. Match 9: Lee Vs Fu. BEGIN!"

The moment he jumped back, both of the fighters flew towards each other, their fists colliding with each other in the middle of the arena.

"Hey, you're not bad!" Fu said with a grin on her face.

"The same to you!" Lee said before he backed off slightly to then jump forwards again.

"Leaf Hurricane!" He yelled as he jumped towards the girl.

The girl in response blocked the attack with her arms crossed, which resulted in her being pushed back, though there wasn't any sign of much damage except for a bit of dirt on her clothing.

"Wow, she took Lee's attack head on and without much damage, why is that?" Sakura said, slightly impressed.

For once, Naruto was the one who answered the question.

"Well, from what I know about the other 'eight', the one she has gives her...um…"

"_Adaptive Armor." _Minato spoke from inside the seal to help the boy out.

"Right, Adaptive Armor. Basically she can...um...adapt her body to whatever she's attacked with to some extent...I think." Naruto answered her.

Both Minato and the Kyuubi nodded within his mindscape. His answer was good enough to at least be passing.

Haku then spoke "Wait, if she's one of the 'nine', doesn't that mean Lee could be in trouble?"

Kakashi shook his head and spoke "No. Taki is allied with us, and she seems much more sane than that young man from Sand. That and also…"

"Nice...but you're gonna need more than that!" Fu said with a smile on her face as she then jumped towards him, fist raised.

"I think she's a taijutsu battle junkie." Kakashi said with a bit of a sweatdrop, to which all of team 7 did the same.

Fu closed the gap and swung her fist in front of her in a haymaker fashion. In this situation, Lee chose to dodge the attack with a hop to the left. And it turned out he made the right decision as after he dodged her fist hit the ground it caused a small crater.

Lee's eyes narrowed a bit before he then went in for another attack with his own fist. However, the girl simply blocked it with one arm. However, Lee wasn't done yet as he made a leg sweep. However, the girl noticed his motive and jumped over the attack, though the leg did graze past the bottom of her back foot. She then kicked out with her front foot, forcing Lee to block the attack and get pushed away. All while grinning like the taijutsu junkie she was.

He frowned a little as he noticed the slight ache in the arm that blocked Fu's attack as he thought _She hits quite hard and her defense as well. And while she isn't as fast as me, her reflexes allow her to keep up._

Fu then closed in again, throwing powerful attacks that Lee decided to either dodge or parry rather than block head on.

Just as he managed to break away from her again, up in the stands Gai shouted "Lee! Take them off!"

Lee then jumped back on top of the finger statue and replied "Gai-sensei! Are you sure? I'm not protecting anyone!"

"It's alright! This is the moment to show your skills. And I'm sure she would rather fight you with everything you have!" Gai responded back to his student.

Fu chuckled a little as she said "He's not wrong!"

Lee nodded and then took the leg warmers he had on his feet off, revealing there had been weights put inside of them.

Kankuro from his spot snickered "Oh, like a couple of weights is gonna make that much of a difference!"

Lee then let go of the weights and let them fall to the floor...which resulted in two craters and plumes of dust to appear where they hit. Kankuro and a few others had their mouths wide open, while Sakura simply said "You know, its only two weights...but both of them weigh at least a few thousand kilograms."

The rest of Team 7, minus Kakashi, had their eyes wide open at said statement. That meant Lee was basically somehow walking and moving above the normal person with ridiculously heavy weights the whole time they knew him.

Kakashi simply shrugged since he knew Gai used even heavier weights on himself.

"Damn...that's kinda badass." Naruto said, his opinion of the bushy brow ninja now raised above the previous 'friends who will persevere to get Sakura's affections'.

Inside Sakura's mind though...her inner self said "_**And we got even heavier weights!**_"

Sakura nodded to her inner self's statement. The fact was that her weights that were hidden in her boots were just a thousand or so kilograms above Lee's.

It was then her Inner Self came to a realization.

"_**Wait...if you took them off...we could have actually hit Orochi-teme, right?**_" Her Inner self asked.

Sakura facepalmed at the realization.

Naruto noticed it and asked her "Uh, you alright Sakura-chan?"

Sakura replied "I'm fine. Don't worry about it Naruto."

"_**Don't you mean Naruto-kun?**_" her Inner Self commented. While she tried to ignore it, she couldn't help but blush for a moment.

"You sure?" Naruto asked again.

"I said I'm fine baka!" She retorted back with her fist raised, hoping to split them apart for the moment. She also turned her head away while she calmed herself enough to stop blushing.

Naruto shrugged as he thought Sakura was being her usual, somewhat violent, self.

Haku on the other hand noticed the blush Sakura had and thought _Yep, definitely teasing her later. Might as well say she's becoming a tsundere. Maybe I could get Kakashi-sensei and Asuka-san to help me with that, fufufu._

Back on the arena below, just as the weights hit the ground, Fu could feel her grin widen.

_Oh this is gonna be good!_ She thought with glee.

Meanwhile, Chomei sighed "_Oh great, she's in junkie mode again. Still impressive that he was fighting Fu with that much extra weight though."_

Lee then disappeared from the finger statue above, his speed now only visible to those of the jonin level or above, those with sharingan, those with enhanced senses, or those who had similar training.

Fu's eyes widened as she then moved her arm to block Lee's kick that came from the side.

"Whoa that's fast!" She shouted as she slid back.

However, Lee wasn't done just yet as he pursued the girl. He laid out a barrage of kicks and punches from all sorts of angles, using his speed to move all around her as he made his attacks. However, her reflexes were still fast enough to block the blows, though now there were a few bruises here and there on her arms and other spots of her body.

Seeing as how the balance of the favor was starting to kick into Lee's favor, he took a moment to release the first two gates, chakra spilling out of his body for a moment before he dashed in for one of his signature attacks.

However, the clash was broken up as Lee's attempt to kick her from below to kick her into the air was blocked by her two hands.

"My turn! Mantis Whip!" She said as she did a flip via handstand over his leg and hook kicked him to the side of the arena and into the wall. She landed on the ground with both feet, though she waited patiently.

Lee made his way out of the debris, letting out a breath of relief as he had managed to block the attack to his side the moment before. Though he could tell that he really couldn't take another hit like that. Lee looked up over at his sensei, and after he got the nod of approval, Lee looked over at his opponent.

He smirked a little as he did so. No one had ever pushed him so far other than his sensei, Neji, and Sakura-chan. Unlike them though, he also respected the way she seemed to carry herself. Her attitude in the fight showed that she was wanted to see everything he had, and despite being able to use ninjutsu unlike himself, she preferred to use taijutsu and was very strong with it. He didn't know how well her ninjutsu was, but he could tell the girl had trained herself in herself to work with whatever part of her chakra that seemed to make herself tougher to injure.

He then yelled "Gate of Pain! Gate of Life! Gate of Limit! OPEN!"

As he did so, his chakra flared, his hair being blown upwards as he did so. His skin turned red, and blood started to come out of his nose.

Several of the spectators eyes widened in disbelief, including Neji as he hadn't expected this from Lee. Well, anyone who watched Sakura fight before wasn't too surprised other than Neji. Though of course, the only shock they had was from how the boy managed to go even further.

From inside the seal, Minato could say he was impressed. "_To think that someone so young could already reach the 5th gate."_

The Kyuubi snickered at his statement and said to him "_Bitch please. If you think that's impressive, you should see someone who has actually mastered their jinchuriki powers."_

"Looks like Lee is going all out then. Though he'll probably be out for a while afterwards." Sakura commented. She had only seen Lee use it once before in a spar with her. She only managed to win due to barely outlasting him. Of course though, Lee using up to the fifth gate was fairly rare outside of training.

Fu's eyes widened in surprise as she felt the chakra coming off of him. She then mentally spoke to Chomei _Chomei, max out the impact resistance quick!_

"_On it already!" _Chomei spoke back to her, quickly using his chakra to influence her body's defenses against impact damage.

Right after that though, Lee disappeared from sight, even from many of the jonins, and reappeared right under her.

_Too fast!_ Fu thought. While she was able to see him coming, her body wasn't. She was then kicked into the air right where Lee wanted her. He then jumped up and proceeded to jump all around the arena, leaving craters wherever he landed and jumped back in. And with each one, he landed an attack on the mint-haired girl. She grimaced from each hit as she tried to block the attacks.

After a couple dozen of these, Lee then kicked her towards the ground, only to then send one of his bandages flying towards her, which caused her to be wrapped in the bandages. She was a bit confused as to why before she felt him tug the bandage to pull her towards him, her eyes widening in alarm.

Just as she finished being unraveled, she was right in front of Lee's foot, who then kicked her downwards as he yelled "REVERSE LOTUS!"

She was hit squarely in the stomach, causing her to cough a bit of blood right before she was sent flying straight into the ground, a plume of dust following her impact.

Lee then fell to the ground himself on his feet, though he stumbled a little as the effect of the gates wore off and the side effects began to take hold. He could feel the aching pain all over his body.

_I hope that was enough to get past that defense of hers...though hopefully not too much…_ Lee thought as he looked into the dust cloud.

However, it was then revealed that Fu had gotten back up, though she was a bit bloody and had some bruises all over her body, as well as an especially nasty one on her stomach. She also appeared a bit shaky from the force of the attacks despite

_Gonna be feeling that one for the next few days…_ she thought.

"Damn. I really didn't expect you to hit that hard. Just a little more and I would have really been in trouble." Fu said with a bit of a grin before she wiped the blood from her lips with her arm.

Lee replied "Is that right?...well I'm not giving up j-just yet!"

Fu looked at the boy in front of her and sighed "That last attack took a lot out of you though, right? And I'll admit, I'm not doing too good either…"

Lee nodded. He could tell his body wouldn't be able to take much more abuse either.

"So...one more attack?" Fu asked him with a smile.

For a second, Lee felt a warmth in his cheeks before he smiled and replied "One more attack."

After a few seconds of them staring down at each other from across the stage, both of them dashed at each other with as much speed as their bodies would let them, and made their attacks. They both went for a single punch towards each other's faces.

As a result of the clash however, it was Lee who fell to the ground, though Fu did catch him a bit so that it wouldn't be face first. She then sighed as she looked at the damage done to her and the boy below her.

She then smiled and said to him "That was really good fight. We should do it again sometime!"

Lee then, despite the sheer amount of pain he was feeling, gave her his signature thumbs up and grin.

However, what she said next caused his mind to overload and pass out.

"You may look a little weird, but guys like you are the kind I can get along with!"

Lee then promptly passed out both at what she just implied and at the fact as taking in her features now that his mind wasn't so focused on the fight, that she was also cute. Gai had tears of pride in his eyes at the scene. Of course, Fu panicked a little bit, asking if he was okay and telling him to not go towards the light. Though of course, Chomei knew and consoled her from within.

At the moment Lee passed out, several of the spectators along with Hayate couldn't help but think _Wait...does she like him?...oh dear god, the kids two taijutsu masters would make…_

Sakura however smiled at the thought...for multiple reasons.

_You know, they kinda look cute together if you think about it. _She thought.

"_**And if it works out, we won't have to deal with him constantly asking us out.**_" Her Inner self commented.

_...that too. And with the other girls around, maybe Naruto won't be so annoying to me_ Sakura thought back.

Of course her Inner self replied "_**Oh please, we both know you would take the offer after everything we've been through."**_

While Sakura argued with her inner self, Fu was declared the winner and both her and Lee were taken to the infirmary. Asuka smirked as she thought _That was a pretty good fight. And I got some moves off of Lee. That kick into the air thing seems pretty useful. Unfortunately though, can't really use Fu's style. I'll take it though. _

Naruto was hyping about the fight with his two tenants, who admitted for a chunin exams, it was decently high tier. However…

"_Though the only reason it got so hectic was the matchup and the fact they were both unique ninja." _Minato noted.

The Kyuubi shrugged as she said "_And if she didn't really care, she could have annihilated him with Chomei. And that bit at the end though...ugh, I really would not want to imagine their kids."_

Naruto tried to think of what Kyuubi mentioned, only to get several weird images to which the Kyuubi replied "_Brat. Think of that again and I will find a way to slap you from in here."_

Naruto scratched the back of his head at that and Minato chuckled.

Haku meanwhile was looking at the scoreboard as she said "So, I guess I will be getting the last match then."

Naruto, Sakura, and Asuka were brought out of their pondering, about to ask what she meant. The scoreboard then flashed the only remaining set of names.

Haku Yuki Vs Choji Akimichi

"Ohhhh." Naruto responded to the matchup. Naruto looked over at Choji and couldn't help but feel a little sorry for him...but then again, it meant Haku would probably move up to the finals.

Asuka's response was "Well, we might get that rematch then after all."

Meanwhile, Sakura sighed. She never really minded the boy much. He was fairly nice. While no, she had no 'interest' in him, she at least thought of him as a friend.

Shikamaru looked at the matchup and told his friend "...yeah you should probably just forfeit."

Though Ino yelled "Oh hell no! If you've been hiding anything awesome like Shikamaru, you got some way to fight her!"

Choji was a bit conflicted in this situation. He understood both of his teammate's recommendations. While yes, he did have a trump card or two, it wasn't like his family's pills since those were only deemed for emergencies. Plus as far as he could tell, Team 7 was probably the strongest team amongst their current year. He was thankful though at least he wasn't fighting his friend Naruto...or kami-forbid, Sakura. He honestly still had a few goosebumps from watching her destroy the Sound trio.

It was then Asuma put a hand on his shoulder and told him "Choji, if you go in there, and fight to win, no matter the outcome, we'll go out for barbecue later. My Treat."

Shikamaru facepalmed at that while Ino gave him the thumbs up. They both knew how he would react.

"OOOOOOHHHH! FREE FOOD! I'LL DO THIS FOR YOU!" He roared, causing every single other person in the stadium besides Team 10 to sweatdrop.

Choji then rushed down the stairs to the arena while Haku simply used an ice shunpo to get down. Though of course she did first get a thumbs up from Naruto. That was motivation enough for her for the moment.

Hayate meanwhile was waiting in the middle, coughing a bit. He was just happy that other than the few good matches, this would be over soon. He really disliked spending so much time in enclosed spaces filled with dust, and after all these fights, there was a good amount of it around.

_Besides, I'm sure Yugao will be happy to hear how Naruto has progressed. _He thought.

As the two made it to their spots to his sides, he coughed once more and asked them "Ready?"

Choji roared "YES SIR!"

Meanwhile Haku simply nodded.

Hayate sighed and then announced to the competitors and the audience "Final match: Haku Yuki Vs Choji Akimichi. BEGIN!"

Just as he jumped away, Choji used his clan's signature jutsu.

"Expansion Jutsu!" He yelled, his body's size expanding to make his body the size of a large ball.

However, before he could use the infamous Human Boulder Jutsu, Haku sent one of her own at him. Sakura recognized the technique as the one Haku had used in their battle with Orochimaru.

"Ice Style: Frozen Waterfall Flow!" she yelled as a sphere of pressurized water formed in front of her. The water then burst forwards like a waterfall at the unprepared Akimichi and slammed him into a wall. Before he could even react the water then froze around him, turning him into a human boulder...now stuck in a giant block of ice. Furthermore, due to how his jutsu worked, it not only made him a bigger target, but since he couldn't really use his limbs in the expansion jutsu, he was now stuck.

Everyone minus Team 7 and the Hokage had their jaws on the ground in shock. Naruto and Asuka were trying their best to not laugh at the situation. Kakashi simply did his eye smile, and Sakura sighed at how that was pretty much overkill.

Though everyone in the building could swear they could hear a man laughing from somewhere far away. Of course Team 7 and the Hokage recognized who it was. Which resulted in Haku saying "...I may have overdone it a little…"

Hayate looked at her and asked "...you can undo the freezing, right?"

With a nod from her, Hayate announced "The winner of the final match of the preliminaries is Haku Yuki!"

With that, Haku made a handsign, which caused the ice to shatter, revealing the now shivering Choji.

"C-c-cold…" he muttered.

He then looked over at Asuma, and remembered what his sensei would do for them.

"B-b-but...w-worth it! F-f-f-free food!"

Of course, everyone who heard him either started laughing or facepalmed.

And with that, the matches of the preliminaries were complete. After Choji was taken out of the arena by medics in case he had caught hypothermia or frostbite, the Hokage asked for all of the winners of the previous matches went down to the arena floor.

As a result, the Hokage, Anko, Hayate, and the match winners were all on the arena floor. On one side were the first three mentioned, and on the other were the members of both Team 7 and the team from Sunagakure, Shikamaru, Neji, and Fu.

The Hokage observed the remaining examinees, and then spoke "Now then, let me explain the how the final part of the exam will happen."

* * *

**Naruto: Well, didn't expect that as a pairing dattebayo!**

**Asuka: You and me both.**

**Kakashi: I fear for the future of Konoha if they have children.**

**Sakura: Well, that way I don't have Lee constantly asking me out anymore**

**Haku: True...but now you want Naruto to.**

**Sakura: There's n-no w-way I would g-go out with that b-baka!**

**Haku: Spoken like a true tsundere.**

**Zabuza: Haku's got a point there cherry brat. Tsundere's do tend to call their interest an idiot.**

**Sakura: SHUT UP!**

**Gai: Ah, the flames of youth are strong today! Especially with my student Lee! I'm so proud!**

**WVH: Yeah, I decided to put Fu with Lee. Partially with the idea of how they carry themselves and also ****just**** the chaos their children could bring. Plus this way, it makes it easier for there to be Neji x Tenten as I hinted at the end of the Tenten vs Temari fight.**

**Tenten: Wait, Neji likes me that way?**

**Neji: WVH...come here please. It's rude of you to reveal someone's secrets like that.**

**WVH: eheheh...well I gotta go. Hayate, outro please! *runs from annoyed Neji***

**Hayate: Okay then. *cough* I hope everyone here enjoyed the chapter. *cough* Please be sure to R&R and come back next *cough cough* time...also why did he ask me to *cough* do this? Whatever...**


	18. Chapter 18: Setting the Stage

**Sorry for the delay. Was getting someone to look through the chapter for me beforehand (like last time), but here's the next chapter! Not as much action, but more of a build of suspense...with a side of comedy! In any case though...first for the reviews.**

**For the Asuka learning Lee's taijutsu and saying she got it from Sakura, that was what I was trying to imply to begin with. Only major difference between her and Sakura's taijutsu is Asuka is more of a speed type similar to Lee, plus she has a wider arsenal outside of that since she has more available chakra. It's just that I had to note it during the match since she and Lee didn't actually fight before the first exam that occurred in canon.**

**Also to the guest, thank you very much. And just to note to the rest of the people, it's not like I'm putting Naruto with everyone. Gotta leave some for the rest of the guys. And besides that, I also have to make sure the girls stay somewhat unique and not simply sounding too much the damn same. Like for example, Asuka being the mostly normal one (for now), Haku being the ****mischievous one, Sakura as the tsundere (cuz that's what its turning out to be), and so forth. **

**And yes, Haku is the Ice Queen, and to the person who noted about Lee and Fu...I see you are catching onto my ways XD**

**Anyhow, I don't own Naruto, only the OCs, the story here, and any unique jutsus. Now onto the chapter!**

* * *

Chapter 18: Setting the Stage

_Probably the last time at the Tower, Forest of Death, Konohagakure, Land of Fire_

"Now then, let me explain how the final part of the exam will happen." The Hokage spoke to the line of genin in front of him.

One of the leaf jonins then wheeled out a white board that had a tournament bracket set up on it.

"In one month in the event arena, you will each compete in 1 on 1 matches similar to the preliminaries, except this time in front of a large audience. Furthermore, this will also give you a chance to analyze and come up with strategies against your opponents or even bring something new to the table." the old man explained.

Everyone but Gaara nodded, as his attention was more on the idea of the fights, and the plan that he was told he would take part in according to his father. Inside his seal, Shukaku was filled with joy at the thought of how much bloodshed there would be.

The Hokage then grinned as he spoke "As such, you might be wondering how we will be choosing who will be fighting who…"

The genins were waiting in anticipation. While yes, it had been random in the preliminaries, but if the finals were going to be such a big event, surely it wouldn't be based off chance, right?

"You'll be drawing lots." The Hokage announced.

A few of the genins sweatdropped, while some even fell to the floor for a moment from the sheer amount of misunderstanding they had (Naruto and Kankuro being of the latter). Of course, Gaara didn't care and was barely listening. He was too focused on Shukaku giving him murder fuel for later.

Anko then walked up with a box that had a hand sized opening in it. She then spoke "Alright brats, you heard the man. Draw your lots from here and speak what number you get."

From up above on the second floor, Orochimaru was quite happy with himself. He was correct in that they would indeed be drawing lots. Furthermore, while everyone was quite focused on the fight between Fu and Lee, even some of the Anbu that he knew were watching him, he managed to sneakily summon a small snake within his clothing. He had ordered it to search for the box that contained the lots, hide in it, and make sure Gaara and Naruto were up against each other.

_As I expected. With this, I'll be able to watch that Uzumaki brat be crushed to death. Ah, it will be quite satisfying to watch. Though I wonder if it will be more satisfying than killing my dear old sensei. _The snake summoner thought in maniacal glee.

However, what he didn't count on was Naruto's sense of smell.

"_I have to say brat, you have guts. Especially calling him that while he was in the room." _The Kyuubi said with a grin of her own.

_Eeheheh. They don't call me the prank master of Konoha for no reason._ Naruto thought spoke to the fox biju.

"_In any case though, I wouldn't be surprised if Orochi-Pedo tried to rig the lots." _Minato spoke, trying to not crack up from the snake summoner's new nickname.

"_If I had to guess, he would probably just put you with Gaara out of spite." _The Kyuubi noted.

Naruto nodded to that. From what he knew about the man, he had a feeling that would be something he would do...especially since he could smell one of the snakes from within the box.

_Well, might as well go along with it. Who knows, maybe under the whole crazy murder thing, Gaara might actually be a good guy. _The boy thought.

Anko then started to call the names of the contestants to grab their lots.

"Sasuke Uchiha."

Asuka walked over to the box and then reached her hand inside. Inside the box, the snake within simply avoided the hand, as its master only gave it the order to make sure the blond ninja boy was put up against the redhead.

Asuka then pulled out one of the lots and read the number out loud.

"1."

Anko looked over to Hayate who nodded back before pulling out a marker from his pocket. He then wrote 'Sasuke Uchiha' in the corresponding spot. Asuka then went back to her spot.

"Shikamaru Nara."

Shikamaru scratched the back of his head and said "What a drag."

He then walked over, pulled a lot from the box, and read the number, slightly relieved as he noticed he wasn't immediately up against the Uchiha at least.

"7." he read aloud. Hayate then put his name in the corresponding spot. Shikamaru would be in the fourth match. Shikamaru felt his eyebrow twitch though as he saw that he would have to fight an extra match though in comparison to the rest.

"Kankuro."

Kankuro walked over, quite relaxed as he then put his hand the the box while doing a little hum. Of course the snake once again dodged the grabby hand, though it looked a bit annoyed as this one took his sweet time pulling out a lot.

Kankuro then pulled out one of the lots and read aloud "5."

Hayate then wrote Kankuro's name into the spot...though not without a slight cough afterwards that hid a near verbal slip of 'clown boy'.

As that happened though, the snake then quickly moved two of the lots to one of the corners of the box. These were the lots that were necessary for setting the fight Orochimaru had planned.

"Sakura Haruno."

The pinkette walked over and then pulled a lot from the box.

"6." she read aloud.

Hayate then wrote her name onto the board in its spot, showing that now the third battle would be Kankuro vs Sakura Haruno.

Sakura walked back over to her spot, feeling that she probably had a good chance against the sand nin. Furthermore, she didn't show any of her skills in the prelims due to Ino's forfeit. While she was still slightly bothered that she didn't even get to compete in the prelims, it in the end also gave her the edge of surprise.

_She can't be that bad...can she? _Kankuro thought, a little worried as how Naruto and Shikamaru were giving him a look of 'poor bastard.'

"Temari."

Temari then walked over and pulled a lot of her own. Though she did slightly brush the snake summon. She grimaced at that.

_That snake probably wants a certain match...I just hope he knows what he's doing. If my little brother gets hurt, I swear. _She thought.

She then looked at the number and smiled for a moment before she read out loud.

"8."

Hayate nodded and filled in the spot for the fourth match, putting Shikamaru against Temari.

"Oh boy. How troublesome." Shikamaru said in response to the matchup. He knew just how troublesome her use of wind could be. And just like his prior fight, it was against a fellow strategist.

Temari however was pleased with it. She enjoyed a good bit of strategy, just like in Shikamaru's fight with Shino. And besides, better than someone who could and would kill him.

"Gaara."

Gaara then walked up to the box and put his hand in. as he did so, the snake in the box took one of the numbers it had been guarding and essentially handed the boy the number. Of course, Gaara didn't exactly care much. He still got what he was asked to do.

"10." he said after he pulled the lot out of the box and read it.

Shikamaru shivered a bit at the thought that he might have to fight Gaara if he managed to win against Temari. He decided right then and there that if he managed to win against Temari, he would forfeit then and there.

Temari on the other hand, wasn't as worried. From what she remembered, 'that' was supposed to occur during Gaara's match. So she knew she wasn't going to be put up against her brother. Though she was still a bit worried about who Orochimaru planned to put against her little brother.

"Naruto Uzumaki."

Naruto then did as instructed and out his hand in the box. He could tell when the lot was put in front of his hand.

_Guess you were right...but let's mess with this a little. _Naruto thought, trying to keep a smirk from appearing on his face.

He then moved his hand around the box, forcing the snake to move around in order to keep the specific lot in front of the boy's hand. This went on for another 15 seconds, much to the snake's annoyance. Naruto then took the lot...but not before bopping the snake on the nose with just enough force to force it to dispel.

Orochimaru looked both annoyed and alarmed since he had been using one of his many jutsu to share senses with it. Clearly the boy must have noticed it from the start...and chose to mess with him anyways. Orochimaru nearly groaned at the thought that much like the woman he assumed to be the boy's mother, Kushina Uzumaki, this boy was as much of a prankster as her. He shivered at the thought of how one time she somehow laced his entire lab with itching powder...he had marks for weeks from that. He even had to scrap that lab just from that alone. Not to mention the other lab that got painted entirely in the color red. The walls, the tools, the flasks, even the liquids and visible gases.

_I still don't know how she managed to do both of those in less than a minute. _He thought.

Naruto then pulled out the lot and read it aloud.

"9."

Hayate grimaced for a moment and then wrote in the boy's name. The last match would be Naruto Uzumaki vs Gaara.

At this point, both Temari and Shikamaru had the same thought.

_Nope, no way in hell am I fighting either of them_.

Orochimaru however couldn't tell if he should be happy that his plan worked...or annoyed at how the boy purposely went along with it.

Meanwhile with Gaara, his hand started to twitch, and a murderous grin appeared on his face for a moment. He would enjoy feasting on the Uzumaki's blood, and he was now given another reason to do so.

Both Kankuro and Temari noticed this, and were a bit worried about their brother. It's not like he would lose though, right?

And so the drawing continued.

"Neji Hyuuga."

The brown haired boy nodded and walked over to the box. He then pulled one of the remaining lots and read the number.

"2."

With that, Hayate wrote in his name, making the first match to be Sasuke Uchiha vs Neji Hyuuga.

"I look forward to our match Uchiha. For proving who's doujutsu is better...and for other reasons." Neji noted.

Asuka simply 'hnn'ed in agreement. She wasn't surprised in what the boy implied though. She knew with the Byakugan, Neji would be able to tell her gender. She had learned about it originally through Hinata. Plus she also noticed the smirk on the boy's face when he said the second part.

_I see, he's amused at the thought of me revealing my gender to the populace._ She thought. It wasn't like she wasn't amused at the thought either. For one, she would finally be able to actually be with Naruto. And two, she would get to enjoy the looks on the faces of the suck ups and the damn fangirls.

Anko then spoke "Well, since there's still one open matchup and two people left, obviously they'll be fighting each other.

Hayate got the message and wrote in for the second match "Haku Yuki vs Fu."

The two girls looked at each other with similar thoughts on how it would probably be a challenge.

The Hokage then spoke "These will be the matchups then for the first round of the finals. 'Sasuke' Uchiha vs Neji Hyuuga, Haku Yuki vs Fu, Kankuro vs Sakura Haruno, Shikamaru Nara vs Temari, and Naruto Uzumaki vs Gaara. You have one month to prepare yourselves. Any questions?"

"Just one." Naruto said with a mischievous grin. The Hokage noticed it and couldn't tell if he should be amused...or worried for his self-image.

"And your question is?" The Hokage asked him.

"Could you turn around the board please?"

The Hokage didn't know what to say to that...but Hayate, who seemed to apparently trying hard to not laugh and then cough to death, did so for him.

It was a drawing of Orochimaru wearing...questionable clothing, holding a milkshake with a speech bubble that read "My milkshake brings all the little boys to the yard."

As a result...most of the genins were in complete shock, save for a few. Anko, Kankuro, and Fu were on the floor laughing their asses off. Most of the jonin still in the room were trying hard to not laugh, even the ones from other villages. Gai was saying something about it being 'unyouthful', but even he was trying his best to not laugh like Anko was. The Hokage chuckled a bit at it. Gaara even grinned for a moment before it went away, confused at what the feeling he felt was there for a moment. Of course on the inside, Shukaku was forgetting how to breathe.

* * *

_Infirmary in the Tower_

Even in the infirmary, Hinata happened to use her Byakugan to watch some of the remaining matches as well as the matchups and ended up seeing Naruto's prank. And as a result...she was giggling at the boy's prank.

"Uh, what's so funny Hinata? Did we miss something?" Kiba asked her from his own bed. He was covered in bandages all over...save for his mouth unfortunately.

"Naruto-kun pulled a good prank and used it to divert attention from him and his team while they left." Hinata told him.

"Darnit! I can hear their laughter from here! What's so funny that...wait what was that last part?"

* * *

_Back at the Arena_

Hinata wasn't wrong though, if anyone was looking, they would have noticed that the entirety of Team 7 was all gone from the room. The only ones who picked up on it were the Hokage, who decided to just go along with it, Hayate, who also went along with it…and Orochimaru.

_...if Gaara doesn't kill that boy...I will FUCKING EVISCERATE HIM MYSELF! _He thought in his rage. Clearly the boy had humiliated him even further. And he even used the distraction to Hiraishin himself and his team out of the building to Kami knows where.

* * *

_Kami knows where...I mean Training Ground 3, Konohagakure, Land of Fire_

In the middle of the training field, a yellow flash appeared, and when the light went away, it revealed the members of Team 7...and Naruto and Haku then fell to the ground laughing their respective asses off.

"Oh man! I am so happy I left one of my clones at the ready!" Naruto said between his fits of laughter.

"Oh most definitely! Their faces! Priceless!" Haku laughed as she rolled on the ground.

Asuka giggled and said "I have to agree with Haku there, that was hilarious!"

Sakura said "While I do want to call you an idiot...I will admit that was funny." with a short giggle as she remembered everyone's faces.

Kakashi eye smiled as he commented "Also it was a good use of distraction so you could hiraishin us out of there. While normally I would say egging on a Sannin is a bad idea...he probably already wants to kill you anyway, so no harm no foul."

Meanwhile in the seal...the Kyuubi was also laughing her ass off while Minato had a bit of a chuckle, thinking on a similar thought to Kakashi's response.

Kakashi then spoke "In any case though, I suggest you all get some rest. Starting tomorrow you'll be training for a month. The Hokage will likely summon you all tomorrow to talk about who you each will be learning from...as well as what happened in the forest."

The team members nodded in response. When a Sannin attacks your team and you somehow manage to survive it, your leader would probably want to know just what was going on.

Kakashi then took that as his time to leave, and as such, he then shunshined out of the training field.

Naruto then grinned as he said "Well I don't know about you guys, but who's up for some victory ramen!?"

Asuka responded "That sounds good."

Haku sighed as she said "Sorry, I promised Zabuza-san I would spend the day with him after the exam. He also said that he had a training plan in mind if I got to the third exam."

Sakura sighed "I would Naruto, but pretty sure my mother wants to know about how the exam went so far." Though on the inside she wanted to go, but she knew just how obsessive her mother could be sometimes when it came to certain things.

Haku and Sakura then left while waving goodbyes and saying things like "See you tomorrow." and such.

Naruto and Asuka looked at each other for a moment.

It was silent before Naruto said "So...just the two of us."

"Yes."

"So does that make this a date?" Naruto asked, embarrassment written on his face.

"Yes." Asuka said, a similar expression on her face.

"Well, let's go then dattebayo!" Naruto shouted.

Asuka simply shrugged as she thought _Too bad I can't really be affectionate with him during it though. Dammit dad. Dammit stupid civilian council._

* * *

_Ok, last time at the Tower, I swear!_

In the impromptu office in the Tower in the Forest of Death, the Hokage looked at the group in front of him. It included Hayate, Anko, several Anbus, and Karin.

"So let me get this straight, Orochimaru wants to invade the village with his nin from Oto as well as several from your former village Kusagakure?" the Hokage asked the redhead girl in a demanding tone.

"Yes. Supposedly he plans to invade during the third exam, but I'm not sure if he has any other allies as well. But based from what little I was told, he probably thinks during the exams would be the easiest time to set up an attack." Karin replied.

The Hokage sighed as he felt a headache coming on. It was one thing for his former student to be targeting the Sharingan, but to also plan an invasion on his former home village? Hiruzen honestly felt that after he gave out his orders, he was going to need quite a strong drink.

Anko nodded as she added "Yeah, that would be something that snake bastard would do. Attacking when an enemy is most open. We'll be having a lot of visitors that day, so obviously it'll be easier for them to blend in."

Hayate sighed "Great. And here I thought him merely being a possible leader in Oto was enough." with a cough at the end.

The Hokage then ordered "Very well then. First, Hawk and Monkey, please escort Miss Karin Uzumaki here to Inoichi in order to confirm the information. Please go with them child. As long as everything is confirmed, I will be sure to have you meet your cousin later."

Karin nodded as she then walked out of the room with two of the Anbu figures.

Hiruzen then looked over at Anko and spoke "Anko, I want you to keep an eye on the Uchiha. I doubt that my ex-student would just give up on 'him'. Also, we don't know if 'he' has a curse mark or not, because apparently it didn't appear during the exam. Which means one of two things. You can guess what those are, right?"

Anko's eyes widened as she asked him "A-are you serious!? You mean?"

Hiruzen nodded. To that Anko yelled "WOOHOO! FUCK YOU OROCHI-PEDO! YOU AND YOUR STUPID MARK CAN GO TO HELL!" before she ran out of the room and tower, still whooping.

The people in the room all chuckled with a sweatdrop.

"She certainly doesn't know the meaning of discreet sometimes." Hayate spoke.

"It's almost like watching Naruto when he was a child again." one of the Anbus spoke. She was a female with long purple hair and wore a mask that resembled a cat's.

Hiruzen then looked at the remaining people in the room and spoke.

"Hayate, I would like you to monitor the Sand ninjas. If I had to guess who Orochimaru would try to get in on the invasion, it would be them."

Hayate raised an eyebrow before he asked his Hokage "Why them?"

The Hokage sighed as he spoke "From what I know, in the past few years we've been getting a lot of missions from their region due to their current Daimyo, so I'm sure some of them would like the idea of showing that they're 'stronger', despite the fact they're allying with other villages to carry it out."

Hayate nodded as he spoke "I see, and why me?"

Hiruzen smirked as he said "A jonin keeping an eye on dignitaries is much less suspicious than an Anbu doing so. And who better than someone who is little known to be a former Anbu?"

Hayate smirked back, bowed, and then took his leave.

Hiruzen then looked at the remaining Anbu and ordered "The rest of you, you have one month to keep an eye for suspicious activity and also help Shikaku prepare our defenses."

Just as they were about to leave though, the Hokage also said "Neko, remain here. I have separate orders for you."

The other Anbus then left, leaving only the one or two Anbus that served as the Hokage's guards, the Hokage himself, and Neko.

He then spoke "I'm sorry I had to call you during your time off Neko. But I would like to ask you to keep an eye on Naruto. I would not put it past that snake to attempt assassination or sabotage. It'll be like old times...though without Hayate or the rest of Team Ro of course..."

Neko nodded in response, though under the mask her face showed signs of happiness...and worry. She then bowed as she spoke "Of course Hokage-sama."

She then left the room in her own shunshin. After she did so...the Hokage sighed as he spoke "Alright you two, we're heading back to the Hokage Tower then...I need my alcohol."

"Not again Hokage-sama." one of them spoke from where he was hiding.

The other however asked "...can I have some?"

"No, not again. NEVER AGAIN." the first Anbu spoke, making the second Anbu relent in defeat.

The Hokage sighed "I'm too old for this shit. Dammit Minato made this look so darn easy."

* * *

_Haruno Residence, Konohagakure, Land of Fire_

"I'm home!" the pinkette said as she entered her house. It was a smaller, two story building, but it fit their lifestyle quite nicely. The main door opened up into a combination of kitchen and living room.

Her mother, a woman with light brown hair that in the back, reached to the bottom of her neck, and in the front, settled just over her forehead and between her green eyes, greeted her "Welcome back my dear." This was Mebuki Haruno, current head of the Civilian Council.

Her father, Kizashi Haruno, was sitting on the couch and gave her a wave. Sakura sighed as she had a feeling he was probably wiped out from whatever mission the 'second' eternal genin had went on recently.

Mebuki then put her hands on her daughter's shoulders as she asked her. "So, how was the exam? Did you get closer to Uchiha-sama?"

Sakura told her "It was fine. And maybe a little on the second part."

"_**A little? More like a lot considering we dived into 'her' memories!" **_Sakura's inner self noted.

"Perfect! Hopefully soon enough you and Uchiha-sama will make wonderful children!" her mother said in glee.

Her father then spoke "Dear, they're too young. Give it time."

Mebuki looked over at the man and then asked him "Just like you and the laundry outside?"

Kizashi's eyes widened as he realized what she meant and quickly rushed outside to get the laundry that was probably long dry by now.

Mebuki then looked at her daughter and asked "And what about...that Uzumaki brat...how is he?" with a slight tone of disdain.

Sakura noticed it, a bit confused, though decided for now to assume she was one of the Naruto-haters.

"He's not that bad. Though yes, he can be an idiot at times." Sakura replied.

Mebuki sighed as she spoke "I still don't know why they let that...little demon be on the same team as you and Uchiha-sama. But I guess Uchiha-sama would be able to take care of a problem if it arises, after all he is an elite. Just remember to never get too close to that brat, and get as close as you can with Uchiha-sama, understood?"

Sakura nodded and then went upstairs to her room, closed the door, and then pondered for a moment. While she could understand that perhaps her mother had a grudge with the Kyuubi, she found it a bit weird as to why her mother was so insistent on her being with Sasuke.

Now that she wasn't fangirling over the boy, she was starting to notice that her mother seemed to be obsessed with the idea.

There was also the fact that she swore she heard her mother mutter something as she went up the stairs.

"...damned demon brat...him...sooner…-sama" was all she could hear of what her mother speak earlier.

* * *

**Naruto: Man I got Orochi-Pedo good!**

**Haku: Indeed. And everyone else too!**

**Anko: *currently ROFL***

**Sakura: Though I'm a bit worried about that thing when it came to my mother...**

**WVH: Gotta make you grow up a bit more somehow. And besides, at least this way you have something more than just to be a kunoichi like Tsunade eventually.**

**Kakashi: Makes sense to me. That's how character development is.**

**Hinata: I-I just h-hope I get to spend t-time with Naruto-kun s-soon.**

**WVH: ...maybe after the finals since he has to train. Don't worry though, I'll make sure you get some screentime though.**

**Hinata: Alright.**

**WVH: ...and before you ask Ayame, yes, you will be in the next chapter.**

**Ayame: YES! Finally!**

**Hayate: ...also why did you have me do the R&R bit last chapter WVH?**

**WVH: ...anyhow...thank you to all my readers and I hope you enjoyed the chapter! Be sure to R&R and come back next time!**

**Hayate: ...did you just cut me of-**


	19. Chapter 19: Fall of the Sword God

**I'm back! And if you're gonna ask why its been so long. Three things.**

**Busy at work due to this whole pandemic crisis, having the bits of writers block due to trying to come up with what I want to write, and lastly...too much Fire Emblem and Trails of Cold Steel.**

**In any case though, just note that the upload schedule is gonna be kinda on and off for a while instead of weekly uploads. And if the chapter title didn't note it, yes, it's time to get at least a little dark. Now for the usual...**

**Disclaimer: I will note this as many times as I have to. I don't own any of this other than the story itself, any OCs i put in, and any custom jutsus I come up with. In any case, be sure to enjoy the chapter!**

* * *

Chapter 19: Fall of the Sword God

_Ichiraku Ramen, Konohagakure, Land of Fire_

It was a typical day at the ramen stand for the father daughter duo. Customers occasionally came in for a bite to eat, some of the males got shot down when they hit on Ayame, and some of said males ended up with a frying pan to the face if they tried something stupid, which tended to be about twice a day normally. They just didn't learn.

Ayame sighed as she prepped up some more of the delicious noodles. It had been a few days since the lovable blond ninja stopped in. She knew he had gone to the chunin exams since a day or two before they started Naruto had stopped in for his daily meal. Though of course, they always had to make sure the boy was properly nourished, so they tended to sneak in all sorts of healthy things into a few of Naruto's ramen bowls. Well, he eventually caught on, but went along with it since it still tasted like 'the food of the gods' as he called it.

She then spoke to herself "I just hope Naruto-kun comes back soon. I worry about him sometimes…"

Then the flap opened as the just mentioned ninja spoke "Worry about who?"

She then turned her head towards the counter and saw Naruto had entered the stand. She then smiled as she saw the boy's smile. Ayame for a moment blushed as she realized he heard the end of her little self-conversation.

"Ah, don't worry about it." Ayame said as she walked over to the counter.

She then saw another person come in. It was none other than the famous, or as she noted 'infamous', Sasuke Uchiha, and as Naruto once told her as a joke, the emo edgelord himself.

"Well this is a surprise, Sasuke actually joining you for once." Ayame said as the 'boy' sat down.

Teuchi happened to enter the front after she spoke and noticed the two customers.

"Ah, Naruto! Welcome back! Exams go well?" Teuchi asked him.

Naruto nodded as he responded "We kicked ass, but we got one more part to go. Now...Ramen please!?"

Sasuke smirked while Teuchi laughed as he spoke "Of course, after all, you're our favorite customer here." He then started cooking up a batch of the food, quickly and efficiently making the blond boy's favorite food.

While her father made the food, Ayame hung over the counter as she said "So, anything interesting happen during the exam?"

"Like you would not believe. Also, remember that one annoying guy who owns the shop down the road a bit?" Naruto said in response.

"Yeah why?" Ayame asked the boy.

"I heard he had a fly problem." Naruto said with a cheeky grin.

Ayame smiled back at him as she said "Of course that was you. Though then again...he hit on me last week, so I say he probably deserved it."

'Sasuke' then asked them "Wait 'dobe', what exactly did you do?"

Naruto smirked as he said "Well...that one clone I had transform into a fly went to said guy's house, and trolled him. It was great! He even smacked himself trying to swat the unswattable fly!"

Ayame and 'Sasuke' both shrugged as they thought of it as a typical Naruto thing. Teuchi then came over to Naruto's spot and delivered several bowls of ramen to him. And of course, the second it left his hands, Naruto began to devour it with enthusiasm.

Teuchi then looked over at 'Sasuke', he then looked around behind them for a moment, shrugged, and then said "So, Asuka, nice to see you drop in after quite a while."

Asuka's eyes widened in surprise, and Naruto even stopped eating his ramen just for that.

Ayame looked at her father with a bit of confusion as she asked him "Asuka...don't you mean Sasuke?"

Teuchi simply laughed as he said "Remember that one girl that stopped in once or twice with Naruto a few years back?"

Ayame pondered for a moment, and once it came to her, she looked back and forth between her father and the 'boy' at the counter until she said "...ok...Sasuke actually being a girl. Did not see that one coming."

Asuka started to sweat bullets as she remembered that she had indeed come here twice with Naruto back during that week they hung out with each other. She was surprised that he was able to recognize her despite her current looks.

The man simply laughed as he said "Don't worry though. It may not look like it, but we do have silencing seals in here. You would not believe the things people talk about when they eat here."

Ayame smirked and said "Well, he's not wrong. Lord Hokage-sama at one point even had us sign a confidentiality agreement just because so many people let things slip their tongue in here."

The two young ninjas then calmed down for the moment. Naruto had also known about said agreement since he had to sign it as well. He had come here enough that he happened to hear one or two things meant to be secret...like where Hiruzen hides his porn stash. The old man literally made Naruto swear to never tell anyone, especially some woman named Kurenai about it. And so far, he had kept said promise. Not like the old man gave him any reason to break it yet.

Teuchi then asked the currently tomboy girl "So, I'm guessing the good old Uchiha special for you missy?"

Asuka smiled as she remembered exactly which one she meant.

"Of course."

Teuchi then went to start cooking up the ramen. Ayame went over towards Asuka and then said "So...should I ask why?"

Asuka sighed as she said "Dad was an asshole, and the civilian council...well..."

Ayame nodded as she replied "Say no more. I got the idea."

Ayame then looked over at Naruto and then towards Asuka, and whispered to her "So...are you two-"

"Yes and no...let me guess, you like him too?" Asuka whispered back, checking if Naruto heard them. He didn't as he was too focused on the food at the moment.

Asuka blushed as she nodded, a bit of worry on her face. She had a feeling that she might not be able to be with her crush. However, Asuka smirked, deciding to channel her inner Haku in this case, as she then whispered "Well...Naruto is technically the last member of two clans. Think about it."

Ayame took a moment to process it and then asked her "Wait...you mean?"

Asuka nodded, and Ayame smiled. While she found the idea of multiple women sharing the same man a bit weird, she felt she probably would be fine with it.

_That, and I've heard about much...weirder things _Ayame thought, thinking of some of the more...out of the ordinary customers they have had. Plus Naruto was one of the few boys she actually liked.

Naruto then turned towards them as he asked "Wait, what are you two talking about?"

"Nothing. Nothing at all." Both girls said. However, Teuchi had an...interesting smile on his face. He heard the entirety of their conversation. While he was a bit put off by the idea of his daughter basically joining a harem, to him Naruto was the son he never had. Plus out of all the people he knew, Naruto was the only person he felt he could trust his daughter to. Better him than all those guys that kept hitting on her when she clearly was not interested.

_Now if only he could be a little less dense. Gods, it's like watching Minato in his teenage years all over again. Though at least now Naruto's been getting a bit smarter. _Teuchi thought to himself. He also took a quick and inconspicuous glance towards one of the nearby trees. He guessed that it was likely one of the Hokage's Anbu watching over the boy, like it was back before the boy officially became a ninja, so he simply let it be.

Of course, said Anbu had noticed said look. She wasn't surprised in the least though. Back when Team Ro was whole, the man had quite literally called them out after Naruto had left and asked if they were going to sit around all day or buy something. After that, none of them could argue that the man had quite the eye.

Behind her mask though, Neko, her real name being Yugao Uzuki, smiled. She was happy that Naruto seemed to be making friends. Of course, she was also one of the few in the know about Asuka's situation. As she had been ordered to watch over Naruto, she had ended up watching over the two's interactions when they were younger. She honestly found it enjoyable...outside of the small thoughts of jealousy she had. But that was more out of how she saw the boy as a little brother...though of course her fiance Hayate would tease her for it. Just the thought of that made her pout for a moment, only to look in the direction of where he was ordered to go, wondering how said man was doing.

Back in the stand, Teuchi then brought over the ramen for Asuka, and set it at the table.

Asuka then used the pair of chopsticks to eat said ramen, at a normal pace and savoring the flavor of the ramen that had tomatoes mixed in with it...unlike Naruto who was basically a ramen vacuum.

Though she did have to say, it was delicious.

* * *

_Near the Golden Leaf Hotel, Konohagakure, Land of Fire_

Meanwhile, Hayate had been keeping an eye on the team from Sand while staying hidden. He could tell the most troublesome member of the bunch was Gaara. After what he did in the stadium, plus the amount of bloodlust the boy held.

_If I didn't know any better, I wouldn't know he was the one tail's Jinchuriki. _He thought to himself as he watched the boy make his way up onto the roof of the inn. It seemed that the boy decided to wander off from the inside to gaze at the moon.

As to how he knew about the Jinchuriki, well most of the higher ranked ninja had been told at one point about some of the more particular traits some of the Jinchuriki of the past had. One of which was that those who held the Shukaku could use Sand Style Jutsus. And while it may be similar to the Iron Sand style of the Third Kazekage or Gold Dust Style of the current Kazekage, it was much more versatile,being able to even use the minerals in the surroundings as a weapon. It was in fact one of the reasons why Konoha was originally fine with making an alliance with Suna.

After all, when you have a Jinchuriki that can manipulate sand AND their nation was mostly DESERT, invading Suna was up there as one of the dumbest ideas one could do.

_In any case though, it's clear the boy is unstable based on what we've seen in the Exams. Just what is the Kazekage thinking? Are they really working with Orochimaru? _He thought as he continued to watch over the place.

He then saw the Jonin of the Sand team leave the building. Hayate guessed that if he was going to get any leads, there were only two people of their group that looked well enough in the know. Gaara clearly wasn't mentally stable enough, and the way Kankuro acted he likely couldn't keep secrets. That left Temari and their Jonin, a man named Baki.

In a split second decision, he decided to follow the Jonin, considering he would be higher up in the chain of Suna's command.

And so, he tailed the man to one of the nearby buildings. Baki ended up going to a canopied section on the roof of said building while Hayate hid in the section below, silent as the night and unnoticed.

After waiting for about an hour, clearly to Baki's displeasure, he saw a second ninja appear next to the man. It was none other than Kabuto Yakushi, someone that was already under suspicion as a member of Orochimaru's fold due to the note Naruto had left in the first exam.

"Kabuto." Baki greeted the white haired youth.

"Baki." Kabuto replied back.

"You're late." Baki noted in annoyance.

Kabuto shrugged as he said "Sorry about that. Had to get away from some watchers earlier. Seems they're on to me earlier than we expected."

Baki then spoke "If they're onto you, you do realize that if they learn of our meeting here, our plan to destroy Konoha and afterwards will be ruined, correct?"

A frown appeared on Hayate's face as he thought _Dammit. Lord Hokage was right after all. As soon as these two finish up, I'll report back immediately._

Kabuto shrugged as he replied "While not everything is panning out to plan due to one or two...complications, things are still mostly going to schedule."

"Does this have to do with making the Uzumaki fight Gaara instead of Sasuke like you originally planned?" Baki questioned the man.

Kabuto nodded as he then pulled out a scroll to the Sand Ninja and said "Yes, it does. In any case though, here are the plans with the one or two revisions we had in mind. Make sure to pass it along to your subordinates."

Baki simply nodded.

With this, Hayate was sure that he had heard enough and planned to make his escape.

However, luck wasn't quite on his side.

Just as he started to move, he made a slight cough.

_Shit! Damn my stupid lung injury! It just had to act up now!_ He thought in a panic.

Baki and Kabuto looked unperturbed, as they both had suspected that someone would attempt to spy on their little meeting.

"So, do you want me to get rid of our little rat?" Kabuto asked the half masked man.

Baki shook his head as he spoke "No, allow me. I can't let your lot do all the work. And besides...one little mouse is no big deal."

At this point, all three ninja shunshined away from their spots, with two of them reappearing on the tiled roof of one of the nearby buildings. These two were none other than Baki and Hayate.

Baki spoke to the man "Well well well, if it isn't the proctor. What brings you out for a night like this?"

Hayate simply ignored the man attempting to call him out. It was already pointless. If he was noticed on the street or something, it would have been easy to pass off, which was the idea of why he had been originally put on this job. But in this case, he was caught red-handed in spying on the Sand Jonin and Kabuto. Worse off, he could tell the man was at least as fast as him. Hayate wouldn't be able to simply run without the man catching up to him.

Thus he had only one choice in this matter.

"And what are you planning with Sound?" He decided to respond back, putting his free hand on the hilt of the katana that was strapped to his back.

Baki simply spoke back "Considering what you're doing...you should already know."

Hayate then leapt forwards in a blur, drawing his sword out while making several signless Shadow Clones appear.

"Crescent Moon Dance!" Hayate yelled as he and his clones rushed to attack him from three different directions.

Baki however merely made slight movements with his hands in response to the Leaf Jonin's attack.

As a result, two of the blades simply hit what seemed to be thin air, while the third ended up hitting on an armored portion of the sand ninja's shoulder, unable to cut through.

"Impressive. But you'll need to do better than that proctor!" Baki said as he then maneuvered his hands, causing the two clones to be dispelled.

Hayate attempted to jump back, only to notice his own sword was stuck. Baki took advantage of the moment and then sliced the man in two.

However, Hayate simply smirked as he said "I plan on it."

The Hayate in front of him then dispersed in a poof of smoke. Baki smirked as he thought _clever. He merely made one of the famous sword techniques of Konoha into a distraction to see what I can do._

Meanwhile, Hayate was hiding behind one of the structures on the building as he analyzed the memories his clones had left him.

_Wind style? Crap. This just really isn't my day_. Hayate thought to himself. Wind style was the one element that he honestly found annoying to deal with. It made Lightning Release, one of the main jutsu styles he tended to use, ineffective. And moreover, due to the issue with his lungs, he couldn't use fire style jutsus.

Worst of all though, if he attempted to block the wind blades, they would chip away at his sword until it was nothing. Yes it was a good, sturdy blade made of chakra metal, but wind blades could be used as long as they weren't up against a stronger wind user, a fire user, or until the user ran out of chakra.

His eyes then widened as he rolled to the side, dodging a vertical slash of one of the wind blades. He then took the opportunity to slash as the opponent now in front of him. However, the blade was blocked by the second wind blade in baki's other hand.

"Impressive. If I tried to block that with a normal weapon, I wouldn't have been able to block it. And it seems it's chakra metal too since my wind blade isn't instantly cutting through it." Baki sneered.

Hayate gave the man no response as he then used a substitution with a tile behind Baki and attempted to slash the man from the back.

However, Baki managed to block said attack again...only for his eyes to widen when he tried to make his own attack with his other wind blade. In a feat of acrobatics, Hayate ended up dodging the attack with a single jump past the attack and attempted to attack the Sand ninja again.

Only this time when Baki blocked the attack, he was pushed to the side, still on his feet though.

He then looked at the man and noticed that unlike before, Hayate now took a slightly different stance. One in which seemed to be focused on speed.

_I can't hold back against this one. He's too experienced in the Wind Blade Jutsu. I just hope I can last long enough…_ Hayate thought to himself.

However, Baki grinned as he spoke "This is a surprise. To think it's you of all people. Some said you were dead, others retired. But I admit, it's an honor to fight you...Rabbit of ANBU, Sword God of Konoha."

Hayate grimaced. He knew that the style that he shifted to would have made the man recognize him. Back in his days in Anbu, it was the most recognizable thing about him. The sword style he created to work with his speed. And despite how ANBU was meant to work more as a stealth force, he managed to end up in a bingo book or two under his ANBU alias.

"Now then, from one swordsmen to another...let's continue...shall we?" Baki spoke to the ex-Anbu.

And then, in a moment...the two then clashed once more.

* * *

_Back with Naruto_

While the duel was going on, Naruto on the other hand was walking back home. He had a big smile on his face as he thought about how his time with Asuka over at Ichiraku Ramen was honestly quite nice.

_Now that she's not pretending to be 'Sasuke' anymore, being with her is a lot nicer now_ he thought with his hands behind his head.

_Maybe it's just because she was trying to NOT be too close to me before as 'Sasuke'._

"_Likely, after all I would say she was trying to carry the burden herself and not drag you into it." _Minato spoke from within the seal.

The Kyuubi, currently in her humanoid form while in the seal, also added on "_Besides that though, just out of my curiosity, you have noticed, right?"_

Naruto smirked as he thought-spoke _You mean the female Anbu that's been watching over us?_

The Kyuubi had to hold in a laugh, as while she knew about that, she was noting something else, but decided to go with "_Sure, let's go with that."_

Of course Minato facepalmed as he knew exactly what the Kyuubi had meant. He was very much starting to feel that the Kyuubi was right in that his son had somehow inherited whatever denseness he had in his youth.

_Might be because he thinks Orochi-Pedo might come after us. Though I don't know why...she feels...I don't know, familiar?_ Naruto thought-spoke to his tenants.

Minato removed the hand from his face as he spoke back "_Well, considering your childhood, Hiruzen probably had some guards protecting you in case things got too much for you to handle."_

Naruto then put his left fist into his other hand as he put together and thought _Oh you mean li-_

However, he was cut off as the Kyuubi spoke "_Wait a second...it's too quiet…"_

At this, Naruto stopped in his tracks, along with Neko who had just noticed it as well. There was no one currently on the streets at all. Not even any of the small animals or other critters that would wander around the village after dusk.

Naruto then looked around and noticed a seal put into two walls not far in front of him. He walked over to them casually and gave them a glance. Meanwhile, Neko in her cautious curiosity, got closer as to try and inspect the seals as well. It wasn't her forte, but she had been trained to at least recognize the basic functions of different seals.

Naruto then widened his eyes and spoke aloud "Miss Anbu...question?"

The woman stopped in her tracks, before she then sighed and shunshined next to him, now in the open, revealing her to be wearing Anbu based attire, her mask that looked like a cat, and lastly a single katana strapped to her waist, with her purple hair blowing gently in the slight breeze..

"It's Neko. And what is it?" she asked.

"Is there some sort of exercise or something going on?" Naruto asked her, a part of him swearing he recognized her voice in the back of his mind.

"Because these seals act as a barrier to keep sound and smells in and keep chakra flares from being noticed...as well as enticing people to not walk near it." Naruto said as now he and his two tenants were now on high alert.

Neko's eyes behind her mask narrowed, as surely this was the act of an enemy...but then widened as she realized just what was beyond this area.

It was the Golden Leaf Hotel, the area in which Hayate had his current mission.

She then asked him in urgency "Can we get through?"

He nodded as he said "Yeah, its set so that as long people don't notice it, they'll be hit with its effects."

"_It's a good thing I managed to get almost all of my fuinjutsu knowledge into you before the exams." _Minato spoke, slightly worried as to why such a seal was in the middle of the village.

Neko then made a handsign and summoned a small, black cat that had a Konoha headband around its neck like a collar, and told it "Inform the Hokage that someone has made a privacy seal around HIS mission location. Understood?"

The summon nodded before it then ran in the direction of the Hokage Tower as Naruto and Neko then walked through the barrier, feeling as if they walked through a sort of membrane. Right after they got through though, Naruto's eyes narrowed as he spoke "I smell steel...and blood."

They then saw a figure being sent flying into a building near them. Unlike earlier, his vest was now in shambles, his chest sporting several deep gashes...and now missing an arm. He coughed blood as he impacted the wall...only to then start falling to the floor.

"HAYATE!" Neko yelled as he fell, with Naruto on pure instinct running to catch the man from his fall, skidding across the ground after the man fell onto him.

Neko ran over as well, noticing that Naruto managed to catch him in time. However, considering the severity of his injuries, it was clear an enemy was still nearby, so she tried to home her senses as to where.

The Kyuubi then yelled at the blonde boy "_Brat! Tell the woman they're at 2 o'clock!_"

"Neko! Two o'clock!" he yelled as he told her the Kyuubi's message. She then jumped up onto the building, only to see a mere glimpse of the figure in a cloud of dust before he disappeared in a shunshin.

_Shit, he's gone_. She thought. It was clear the man would outrun her at this point. And with that seal still active, reinforcements would likely not get here in time to track the assailant down.

While that happened, Naruto looked at the man now in his arms, and realized exactly who it was. It was the third exam proctor that he had met just earlier.

"N-Naruto?" the man spoke with a slightly hoarse voice, blood flowing from his lips.

However, Naruto's eyes widened, as while he hadn't recognized him before...he did so now, as his mind flashed back to 6 years ago.

Back to one of the few times he barely escaped death.

* * *

**Kakashi: Well, should have seen this coming since it was in canon**

**Haku: Though considering Naruto-kun's involvement and his reaction here, likely there's something more to it**

**Asuka: I just hope it doesn't shake Naruto too much. I know he's been through a lot already...**

**Ayame: Me too Asuka. Me too.**

**WVH: He'll be fine probably**

**Hayate: ...still alive here...dying, but still alive...also WVH, did I at least do a good number on the bastard?**

**WVH: Oh yes you did. I'll be sure to note it later. Canon did not do you justice in that regard, and I plan to leave Baki at least a few scars from that if I let him live.**

**Neko: You mean if I let him live. *Glares***

**WVH: Just be patient Neko and wait to find out. In any case, thanks to all you wonderful readers for waiting and supporting the series. Be sure to R&R and come back next time! Also before anyone asks, yes he'll be getting summons, and no, its not the toads. So see you th-**

**A bunch of random characters: HEY! WRITE THE STUFF FOR OUR STORIES ALREADY DAMMIT!**

**WVH: Oh shit gotta run BYYYYEEEEEEEE! *runs from the angry mob***


End file.
